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Life 

Talks 


By 

James    H.  McConkey 


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BV 
4510 
.M2 
1911 


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PRINCETON  .  NEW  JERSEY 

FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 
ROBERT  ELLIOTT  SPEER 


BV  4510  .M2  1911 
McConkey,  James  H.  1858- 

1937. 
Life  talks 


Life  Tal 


V 


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APR    1  1959 


A  Series  of  Bible  Talks  on  the 
Christian   Life 

V 

By  James  H.  McConkey 


First  Edition 


1911 

Published  by 

FRED  KELKER 

P.  O.  Box  216 

iARRISBURG,  Pa.,  U.  S.  A. 


This  book  is  not  sold,  but  will  be  sent 
to  any  address  free  of  charge,  as  we  feel 
led.  Its  circulation  is  supported  entirely 
by  voluntary  offerings. 


Copyrighted,    191 1, 

By  James   H.    McConkey, 

Wrightsville,    Pa. 


Chastening. 


"Whom  the  Lord  loveth  He  chasteneth." — 
Heb.  12:6. 

How  deep  is  the  mystery  of  God's  chastening 
of  His  children !  And  how  the  soul  shrinks  at 
the  very  mention  of  the  word !  Yet,  in  this  He- 
brews passage  is  set  forth  some  of  the  most  pre- 
cious teaching  of  God's  Word  as  to  His  loving 
dealing  with  the  lives  of  His  own.  Let  us  give 
heed  to  it.  For  it  touches  the  deeps  of  Christian 
experience  in  that  it  brings  us  face  to  face  with 
God's  wondrous  grace  in  over-ruling  the  mystery 
of  suffering  to  the  enrichment  and  unspeakable 
blessing  of  the  lives  of  His  children.  And  let  us 
note,  first,  that 


Chastening  is   God's   ''child-training.'' 

That  is  what  the  word  means.  It  is  built  upon 
the  Greek  word  ''child."  It  is  the  root-word  for 
"child"  with  the  verb  termination  added  to  it. 
It  means  *'to  deal  with  as  a  child,"  to  ''child- 
train."  Nine  times  in  the  passage  occurs  the 
word  "son,"  "child,"  and  "father."  God  is  speak- 
ing to  His  own.  We  are  His  own  dear  children. 
5 


6  UFB  TALKS. 

He  has  brought  us  into  His  great  family.  And 
now  having  saved  us,  He  is  going  to  train  us.  Up 
there  is  the  homeland  and  the  glory ;  down  here 
is  the  suffering.  He  is  even  over-ruling  the  suf- 
fering to  child-train  us  for  the  glory.  And  thus 
what  sweetness  and  preciousness  flow  forth  from 
this  much  mis-understood  fragment  of  His  Word 
as  we  invest  it  with  this  its  literal  significance. 
Let  us  read  it  into  the  whole  passage  and  mark 
the  blessing  in  it. 

*     *     *     * 

''My  son,  despise  not  thou  the  child-training 
of  the  Lord,  nor  faint  when  thou  art  rebuked  of 
Him:  for  zvhom  the  Lord  loveth  He  child-train- 
eth,  and  scourgeth  every  son  whom  He  receiveth. 
If  ye  endure  child-training^  God  dealeth  with 
you  as  with  sons:  for  zvhat  son  is  he  whom  the 
father  child-traineth  not?  But  if  ye  be  without 
child-training,  whereof  all  are  partakers,  then 
ye  are  bastards,  and  not  sons.  Purthermore  we 
have  had  fathers  of  our  flesh  which  corrected  us, 
and  we  gave  them  reverence;  shall  we  not  much 
rather  be  in  subjection  to  the  father  of  spirits, 
and  livef  For  they  verily  for  a  fezv  days  child- 
trained  us  after  their  own  pleasure;  but  He  for 
our  profit,  that  we  might  be  partakers  of  His 
holiness.  Now  no  child-training  for  the  present 
seemeth  to  be  joyous,  but  grievous:  nevertheless 
afterzvard  it  yicldeth  the  peaceable  fruit  of  right- 
eousness unto  them  zvhich  are  exercised  thereby." 


chastening:  7 

Chastening  is  for  purification. 

Does  God  have  a  grudge  against  us?  Is  God 
trying  as  it  were,  to  "get  even"  with  us?  Is 
God's  ''child-training"  a  kind  of  parental  revenge 
for  childish  wrong-doing?  Oft-times  we  think 
so.  But  it  is  far  from  the  truth.  ''For  they" 
(our  earthly  parents)  verily  for  a  few  days 
child-trained  us  after  their  own  pleasure,  but 
He  FOR  OUR  PROFIT,  that  we  might  be  partakers 
OF  His  holiness.^^  (v.  io.)  God's  one  supreme 
purpose  in  child-training  us,  is  purification.  He 
is  seeking  to  purge  from  us  all  that  mars  the  like- 
ness of  Jesus  Christ  within  us.  It  is  His  own 
holiness  that  He  is  seeking  to  perfect  within  us. 

A  visitor  was  watching  a  silversmith  heating 
the  silver  in  his  crucible.  Hotter  and  hotter  grew 
the  fires.  All  the  while  the  smith  was  closely 
scanning  the  crucible.  Presently  the  visitor  said : 
"Why  do  you  watch  the  silver  so  closely?  What 
are  you  looking  for?"  "I  am  looking  for  my 
face,"  was  the  answer.  "When  I  see  my  own 
image  in  the  silver,  then  I  stop.  The  work  is 
done."  Why  did  the  silversmith  light  the  fires 
under  the  silver?  To  purify  and  perfect  it.  Is 
God's  child-training  an  executioner  visiting  upon 
us  the  wrath  of  God?  Nay,  it  is  rather  a  cleans- 
ing angel  pouring  forth  upon  us  the  love  of  God. 
The  furnace,  the  suffering,  the  agony  of  child- 
training,  what  do  they  mean  ?  God  is  looking  for 
a  face!     It  is  the  face  of  His  Son.     "For  He 


8  LIFE  TALKS. 

hath  fore-ordained  us  to  be  conformed  to  the 
image  of  His  Son.  And  He  is  purging  from  us 
in  child-training  all  that  dims  that  image.  There- 
fore, child  of  God,  do  not  be  associating  chasten- 
ing only  with  the  word  "chastise."  Couple  it 
also  with  that  beautiful  word  ''chastity,"  the  jew- 
el of  perfect,  spotless  purity  of  heart  and  life. 
Thus  ''chasten"  is  to  "chaste-en/'  It  is  to  make 
chaste,  to  make  pure,  spiritually.  To  purge,  to 
cleanse,  to  purify — that  is  God's  great  purpose  in 
all  His  "child-training." 

Like  all  true  parents,  therefore,  God  has  a 
model,  a  pattern  to  which  He  is  fashioning  the 
lives  of  His  children.  That  pattern  is  Jesus 
Christ.  And  God's  great  purpose  is  that  Christ 
should  be  "formed  in  us."  Thus  the  will  of  the 
Father  is  perfect.  But  the  will  of  the  child  must 
be  plastic.  For  how  can  the  will  of  the  Father 
be  carried  out  unless  the  will  of  the  child  be 
yielded?  Otherwise  may  not  the  child  baffle  at 
every  step  the  highest  purpose  of  the  Father  for 
the  life  of  the  child?  You  can  Jo  anything  with 
an  obedient  child.  You  can  do  nothing  with  a 
disobedient  one.  Wherefore  the  first  great  lesson 
God  is  seeking  to  teach  in  chastening  is — 

*     *     *     * 

OBI^DIHNCE. 

"Though  He  were  a  Son  yet  learned  He  obedi- 
ence through  the  things  which  He  suffered"  is 
the  wondrous  word  spoken  of  the  Lord  Himself. 


CHASTENING.  9 

And  have  you  not  noted  how  true  this  is  in  the 
lives  of  all  God's  children?  The  chamber  of  suf- 
fering— is  it  not  the  birth-place  of  obedience? 
Is  not  the  crowning  grace  of  utter  submission  to 
His  will  wrought  out  in  the  place  of  affliction  as 
nowhere  else  ?  Go  sometimes  into  such  a  chamber 
of  suffering.  There  lies  one  of  God's  "shut-ins." 
For  years  she  has  been  in  the  fiery  furnace  of 
affliction.  By  and  by  you  express  the  hope  that 
this  affliction  may  pass  away.  A  smile  flits  over 
the  wan  face.  Quickly  from  the  trembling  lips 
drops  this  sentence:  ''If  it  be  God's  will." — Not 
her  own  will,  but  God's!  That  is  the  first 
thought.  The  words,  the  spirit,  the  life  of  the 
sufferer  all  image  forth  one  great  truth — abso- 
lute submission  to  the  will  of  God.  Somehow — 
we  know  not  how — but,  somehow,  this  spirit  of 
obedience,  of  perfect  submission  to  the  will  of 
God  is  wrought  out  in  the  furnace  and  the  cru- 
cible as  in  no  other  experience  of  life.  How 
many  of  us  strong-willed  men  and  women  have 
found  that  to  be  true ! 

We  recall  a  striking  story  from  the  lips  of  a 
friend.  A  lady  was  summering  in  Switzerland. 
One  day  she  started  out  for  a  stroll.  Presently, 
as  she  climbed  the  mountain-side,  she  came  to  a 
shepherd's  fold.  She  walked  to  the  door  and 
looked  in.  There  sat  the  shepherd.  Around  him 
lay  his  flock.  Near  at  hand,  on  a  pile  of  straw, 
lav  a  single  sheep.  It  seemed  to  be  in  suffering. 
Scanning  it  closely,  the  lady  saw  that  its  leg  was 


10  LIPE  TALKS. 

broken.  At  once  her  sympathy  went  out  to  the 
suffering  sheep.  She  looked  up  inquiringly  to 
the  shepherd.  **How  did  it  happen?"  she  said. 
To  her  amazement,  the  shepherd  answered  :  "Ma- 
dam, I  broke  that  sheep's  leg."  A  look  of  pain 
swept  over  the  visitor's  face.  Seeing  it,  the 
shepherd  went  on:  "Madam,  of  all  the  sheep  in 
my  flock,  this  one  was  the  most  wayward.  It 
never  would  obey  my  voice.  It  never  would  fol- 
low in  the  pathway  in  which  I  was  leading  the 
flock.  It  wandered  to  the  verge  of  many  a  peril- 
ous cliff  and  dizzy  abyss.  And  not  only  was  it 
disobedient  itself,  but  it  was  ever  leading  the 
other  sheep  of  my  flock  astray.  I  had  before 
had  experience  with  sheep  of  this  kind.  So  I 
broke  its  leg.  The  first  day  I  went  to  it  with 
food,  it  tried  to  bite  me.  I  let  it  lie  alone  for  a 
couple  of  days.  Then,  I  went  back  to  it.  And 
now,  it  not  only  took  the  food,  but  licked  my 
hand,  and  showed  every  sign  of  submission  and 
even  affection.  And  now  let  me  tell  you  some- 
thing. When  this  sheep  is  well,  as  it  soon  will 
be,  it  v/ill  be  the  model  sheep  of  my  flock.  No 
sheep  will  hear  my  voice  so  quickly.  None  will 
follow  so  closely  at  my  side.  Instead  of  leading 
its  mates  astray,  it  will  now  be  an  example  and 
a  guide  for  the  wayward  ones,  leading  them,  with 
itself,  in  the  path  of  obedience  to  my  call.  In 
short,  a  complete  transformation  will  have  come 
into  the  life  of  this  wayward  sheep.  It  has 
learned  obedience  through  its  suffering.'* 


CHASTENING.  ti 

Friend,  from  the  suffering  of  bafiled  ])lans 
which  have  brought  you  the  keenest  disappoint- 
ment of  Hfe:  from  the  suffering  of  personal  be- 
reavements v^hich  have  torn  from  your  presence 
loved  ones  unspeakably  precious  to  your  soul ; 
from  the  suffering  of  temporal  losses  and  broken 
fortunes ;  from  the  suffering  which  has  stalked 
into  your  life  through  the  wil fullness  and  sin  of 
others ;  from  the  suffering  which  seemed  at  times 
to  bring  you  to  the  brink  of  a  broken  faith  and  a 
broken  heart;  yea,  suffering  one,  out  of  your 
very  agony  of  heart  and  soul,  somehow,  oh,  some- 
how, the  eternal  God  of  love  and  mercy  is  seek- 
ing to  bring  into  your  life  the  supremest  blessing 
that  can  enrich  and  glorify  that  life — the  blessing 
of  a  human  will  yielded  to  the  will  of  God. 

And  to  be  yielded  to  the  will  of  God — what  a 
place  is  that  for  you !  It  means  more  than  sil- 
ver and  gold ;  more  than  gratified  desires  and  am- 
bitions ;  more  than  all  the  sweet  blandishments 
of  friendship ;  more  than  all  the  praises  of  men ; 
more  than  all  the  prizes  of  fame ;  yea,  more  than 
the  attainment  of  all  your  highest  earthly  aims 
and  strivings  is  this  richest  and  deepest  of  all 
blessings,  to  be  hidden,  sunken,  swallowed  up  in 
the  will  of  God  for  all  time  and  amid  all  circum- 
stances. And  it  is  this  that  God  is  seeking  to 
teach  you  through  chastening.  It  is  into  this 
hiding  place  of  peace  and  power  from  which  the 
world  can  never  dislodge  you,  that  God  is  striv- 
ing to  bring  you  by  the  way  of  tribulation,  disap- 


12  LIFE  TALKS. 

pointment  and  pain.  All  that  brings  you  there 
is  worth  its  costliest  price  of  blood  and  suffering. 
Rather  than  the  life  out  of  His  will  nothing  can 
be  too  dear-bought  that  brings  us  into  that  will. 
Rather  than  miss  it,  we  can  spare  nothing  from 
our  lives  that  will  compass  it. 

And,  now,  as  God  brings  us  into  this  place  of 
obedience,  He  is  able  to  work  out  in  us  the  next 
rich  out-come  of  His  child-training,  and  that  is : 

3|C  5|C  ^  JjC 

Fruitage:. 

"Afterward  it  yieldeth  . . .  :^ruit.'^     (v.  ii.) 

The  summei  showers  are  falling.  The  poet 
stands  by  the  window  watching  them.  They  are 
beating  and  buffeting  the  earth  with  their  fierce 
down-pour.  But  the  poet  sees  in  his  imaginings 
more  than  the  showers  which  are  falling  before 
his  eyes.  He  sees  myriads  of  lovely  flowers 
which  shall  soon  be  breaking  forth  from  the 
watered  earth,  filling  it  with  matchless  beauty 
and  fragrance.    And  so  he  sings : 

"It  isn't  raining  rain  for  me,  it's  raining  daffodils; 

In  every  dimpling  drop  I  see  wild  flowers  upon   the 

hills. 
A  cloud  of  gray  engulfs  the  day,  and  overwitehns  the 

town  ; 
It  isn't  raining  rain  for  me:  it's  raining  roses  down." 

Perchance  some  one  of  God's  chastened  chil- 
dren is  even  now  saying:  "O  God,  it  is  raining 


CHASTENING.  13 

hard  for  me  to-night.  Testings  are  raining  upon 
me  which  seem  beyond  my  power  to  endure. 
Disappointments  are  raining  fast,  to  the  utter  de- 
feat of  all  my  chosen  plans.  Bereavements  are 
raining  into  my  life  which  are  making  my  shrink- 
ing heart  quiver  in  its  intensity  of  suffering.  The 
rain  of  affliction  is  surely  beating  down  upon  my 
soul  these  days."  Withal,  friend,  you  are  mis- 
taken. It  isn't  raining  rain  for  you.  It's  rain- 
ing blessing.  For,  if  you  will  but  believe  your 
Father's  word,  under  that  beating  rain  are  spring- 
ing up  spiritual  flowers  of  such  fragrance  and 
beauty  as  never  before  grew  in  that  stormless, 
un-chastened  life  of  yours.  You  indeed  see  the 
rain.  But,  do  you  see,  also,  the  flowers?  You 
are  pained  by  the  testings.  But  God  sees  the 
sweet  flower  of  faith  which  is  up-springing  in 
your  life  under  those  very  trials.  You  shrink 
from  the  suffering.  But  God  sees  the  tender 
compassion  for  other  sufferers  which  is  finding 
birth  in  your  soul.  You  see  the  disappointments, 
but  God  sees  the  sweet  submission  to  His  divine 
and  perfect  will  which  is  growing  out  of  the  very 
same.  Your  heart  winces  under  the  sore  be- 
reavement. But  God  sees  the  deepening  and  en- 
riching which  that  sorrow  has  brought  to  you. 
It  isn't  raining  afflictions  for  you.  It  is  raining 
tenderness,  love,  compassion,  patience  and  a 
thousand  other  flowers  and  fruits  of  the  blessed 
Spirit  which  are  bringing  into  your  life  such  a 
spiritual  enrichment  as  all  the  fulness  of  worldly 


14  LIFE  TALKS. 

prosperity  and  ease  was  never  able  to  beget  in 
your  innermost  soul. 

And  are  you  saying:  ''But,  what  a  fruitless 
branch  I  must  be  that  God  must  needs  so  to 
purge  me?"  Nay,  not  so.  Have  you  not  no- 
ticed what  kind  of  branches  it  is  that  God 
purges?  Hear  His  word:  "Every  branch  that 
beareth  fruit,  He  purgeth  it"  (Jno.  15:  2).  It  is 
not  the  fruitless  but  the  fruitful  branch  which 
is  purged.  And  why  ?  "That  it  may  bring  forth 
more  fruit."  Purging  is,  therefore,  not  the  proof 
of  worthlessness,  but  the  proof  of  fruit.  For  it 
is  only  the  fruit  bearers  that  are  purged.  The 
others  are  "taken  away."  Wherefore  His  purg- 
ing is  both  the  proof  that  there  is  fruit,  and  the 
pledge  that  there  shall  be  more. 

*     *     *     * 

God  does  not  expect  us  to  enjoy  chastening,  but 

to  ENDURE  it  for  the  sake  of  its  aet- 

ERWARD.    (v.   II.) 

Sometimes  we  reproach  ourselves  because  we 
are  not  enjoying  affliction.  We  ought  to  be  like 
Paul,  who,  we  say,  "rejoiced  in  tribulation."  But 
do  we  think  by  this  that  Paul  really  enjoyed 
tribulation?  Surely  not.  When  they  knouted 
his  naked  back  with  the  iron  points  of  the  leather- 
thonged  scourge,  think  you  he  enjoyed  it?  The 
stones  they  hurled  at  him  were  no  sweet-meat 
missies  tossed  by  sportive  hands  in  friendly  car- 
nival.    They  were  business-like,  merciless,  jag- 


CHASTENING.  15 

ged,  and  went  home  to  their  target  with  blows 
that  crashed  him  into  bloody  insensibility.  Think 
you  he  enjoyed  that?  The  ''perils  by  false  breth- 
ren" too — do  you  know  what  that  is? — To  have 
a  friend  play  you  false — one  whom  you  had 
taken  to  your  heart  of  hearts,  one  whom  you 
leaned  upon,  and  to  whom  you  poured  out  your 
soul,  what  is  that  but  the  stiletto-stab  that  makes 
the  blood  spurt  from  every  vein  in  your  inner- 
most being?  Did  yoti  enjoy  that?  Surely  not. 
Well,  neither  did  Paul.  Neither  does  any  man 
with  flesh,  and  blood,  and  nerves,  and  heart.  But 
what  did  this  old  hero  of  Jesus  Christ's  kingdom 
say  about  the  affliction?  Listen,  *'I  rejoice  in 
tribulation,  for  tribulation  worketh,"  etc.  He  re- 
joiced not  in  tribulation,  itself,  but  amid  tribula- 
tion for  the  things  tliat  came  forth  from  it. 
Likewise,  God,  our  Father  does  not  expect  us  to 
enjoy  child-training.  He  is  not  displeased  if  we 
find  it  hard  to  bear,  and  shrink  under  it.  Nay, 
He  distinctly  says,  "it  is  grievous,"  and  he  only 
asks  us  to  endure  it,  not  for  itself,  but  for  the 
glorious  ''afterward"  which  is  to  come  forth  from 
it. 

There  are  three  warnings  we  need  amid  child- 
training.    In  verse  five,  God  admonishes  us  to : — 
*     *     *     * 
"Despise  Not." 

Do  not  "esteem  lightly"  God's  child-training. 
Do  not  look  down  upon  it.    Above  all,  do  not  let 


i6  LIPB  TALKS. 

your  heart  grow  hard   and  bitter  against  God 
because  of  it.     Very  needful  is  this  warning  to 
all  of  us.     How  many  have  lost  fellowship  with 
God,  and  have  drifted  into  the  dark  places  of 
doubt,   rebelliousness,  and  despair  because  they 
have  suffered  their  hearts  to  be  embittered  against 
God  for  his  seemingly  strange  dealings  with  them ! 
Ah!    friend,    shun    that   above   everything   else. 
''Harden  not  your  heart."     Do  not  rise  up  in 
mutiny  of  spirit  against  God.    When  you  let  that 
serpent  coil  in  your  heart,  it  will  sting  your  inner- 
most soul  to  the  death  of  peace,  and  rest,  and  joy 
in    your    Lord.      Guard    yourself    against    that. 
Again  in  the  same  verse,  comes  the  warning : — 

*     *     *     * 
''Faint  Not!" 

How  great  is  the  temptation  at  this  point !  How 
the  soul  sinks,  the  heart  grows  sick,  and  the  faith 
staggers  under  the  keen  trials  and  testings  which 
come  into  our  lives  in  times  of  special  bereave- 
ment  and    suffering.      "I    cannot   bear   up    any 
longer;    I   am    fainting   under   this   providence 
What  shall  I  do?     God  tells  me  not  to  faint. 
But  what  can  one  do  when  he  is  fainting?"  What 
do  you  do  when  you  are  about  to  faint  physical- 
ly?   You  cannot  do  anything.     You  cease  from 
your  own  doing.   In  your  faintness,  you  fall  upon 
the  shoulder  of  some  strong  loved  one.  You  lean 
hard.     You  rest.     You  lie  still  and  trust,  until 
your  fainting  soul  comes  back  to  its  own.'   It  is 


CHASTENING.  17 

so  when  we  are  tempted  to  faint  under  afflic- 
tion. God's  message  to  us  is  not  "Be  strong,  and 
of  good  courage,"  for  he  knows  our  strength  and 
courage  have  fled  away.  But  it  is  that  sweet 
word :  **Be  still,  and  know  that  I  am  God."  Hud- 
son Taylor  was  so  feeble  in  the  closing  months  of 
his  life,  that  he  wrote  a  dear  friend,  *'I  am  so 
weak  I  cannot  work;  I  cannot  read  my  Bible;  I 
cannot  even  pray.  I  can  only  lie  still  in  God's 
arms  like  a  little  child,  and  trust."  This  won- 
drous man  of  God  with  all  his  spiritual  power 
came  to  a  place  of  physical  suffering  and  weak- 
ness where  he  could  only  lie  still  and  trust.  And 
that  is  all  God  asks  of  you.  His  dear  child,  when 
you  grow  faint  in  the  fierce  fires  of  affliction.  Do 
not  try  to  he  strong.  Just  he  still,  and  knozu  that 
He  is  God  and  will  sustain  you,  and  bring  you 
through. 

There  is  another  warning  we  need  in  chasten- 
ing, and  it  is  this: — 

*     *     *     * 
Question  Not. 

There  are  some  questions  the  believer  may  ask 
of  his  God.  We  may  say  ''what"  to  God.  For 
that  is  the  question  of  service.  "Lord,  what  wilt 
thou  have  me  to  do?"  It  is  fair  for  us  to  ask 
that,  for  we  have  a  right  to  know  the  particular 
ministry  He  has  for  us  from  day  to  day.  even  as 
had  Paul.  Again,  we  may  say  "where"  to  God. 
For  that  is  the  question  of  guidance.     It  is  but 


i8  LIPB  TALKS. 

right  that  we  should  know  the  place  of  our  serv- 
ice; where  He  would  have  us  walk,  as  we  move 
on  in  our  daily  journey  with  our  Lord.  Then, 
too,  we  may  say  "when"  to  Him.  For  that  is 
the  question  of  time.  And  it  is  well  to  know 
His  time  for  all  things,  that  we  neither  run  be- 
fore Him  in  our  zeal,  nor  lag  behind  Him  in  our 
slothfulness.  But  there  is  one  question  no  child 
of  His  should  ever  put  to  God  concerning  God's 
dealings  with  him  in  chastening.  No  man  should 
ever  say  '\i}hy"  to  God.  For  "why"  is  the  ques- 
tion of  doubt.  It  is  the  assassin  of  faith.  It 
leads  us  to  the  brink  of  a  dizzy  cliff — the  preci- 
pice of  rebellion  against  God.  No  Christian  can 
afford  to  say  it.  Our  Lord  never  uttered  it  save 
once,  "My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsak- 
en me?"  That  awful  "Why"!  It  had  all  His 
life  been  a  stranger  to  His  lips.  And  why  had 
it  fallen  now?  Because  of  sin — not  His,  for  He 
had  none.  But  yours  and  mine,  and  the  world's, 
which  plunged  Him,  our  sin-bearer,  into  the 
black  despair  of  the  only  hour  of  separation  from 
God  He  had  ever  known  in  all  His  eternal  ex- 
istence. And  you  and  I  are  coming  close  to  sin, 
with  its  darkness,  and  broken  fellowship,  and  its 
rebellion  against  God  when  we  began  to  say 
"why"  to  Him.  You  do  not  like  your  little  one 
to  say  "why"  to  you,  do  you?  Its  mistrust 
wounds  your  father-soul.  Neither  would  God 
have  you  say  it  to  Him,  for  it  brings  like  grief 
to  his  father-heart. 


CHASTENING.  19 

There  are  some  other  things  for  us  to  remem- 
ber too  in  chastening.    The  first  is : — 


Remember  the  love  of  God. 

Last  year  there  was  found  in  an  African  mine 
the  most  magnificent  diamond  in  the  world's  his- 
tory. It  was  presented  to  the  king  of  England 
to  blaze  in  his  crown  of  state.  The  king  sent  it 
to  Amsterdam  to  be  cut.  It  was  put  in  the  hands 
of  an  expert  lapidary.  And  what  do  you  sup- 
pose he  did  with  it?  He  took  this  gem  of  price- 
less value.  He  cut  a  notch  in  it.  Then  he  struck 
it  a  hard  blow  with  his  instrument,  and  lo!  the 
superb  jewel  lay  in  his  hand,  cleft  in  twain. 
What  recklessness !  what  wastefulness !  what 
criminal  carelessness !  Not  so.  For  days  and 
weeks  that  blow  had  been  studied  and  planned. 
Drawings  and  models  had  been  made  of  the  gem. 
Its  quality,  its  defects,  its  lines  of  cleavage  had 
all  been  studied  with  minutest  care.  The  man 
to  whom  it  was  committed  was  one  of  the  most 
skilful  lapidaries  in  the  world.  Do  you  say  that 
blow  was  a  mistake?  Nay.  It  was  the  climax 
of  the  lapidary's  skill.  When  he  struck  that  blow, 
he  did  the  one  thing  which  would  bring  that  gem 
to  its  most  perfect  shapeliness,  radiance,  and  jew- 
elled splendor.  That  blow  which  seemed  to  ruin 
the  superb  precious  stone  was  in  fact  its  perfect 
redemption.  For  from  these  two  halves  were 
wrought   the   two   magnificent  gems   which   the 


20  LIFE  TALKS. 

skilled   eye  of  the  lapidary   saw  hidden   in  the 
rough,  un-cut  stone  as  it  came  from  the  mines. 

So,  sometimes,  God  lets  a  stinging  blow  fall 
upon  your  life.  The  blood  spurts.  The  nerves 
wince.  The  soul  cries  out  in  an  agony  of  won- 
dering protest.  The  blow  seems  to  you  an  ap- 
palling mistake.  But  it  is  not,  for  you  are  the 
most  priceless  jewel  in  the  world  to  God.  And 
He  is  the  most  skilled  lapidary  in  the  universe. 
Some  day  you  are  to  blaze  in  the  diadem  of  the 
King.  As  you  lie  in  his  hand  now  He  kiunvs 
just  how  to  deal  with  you.  Not  a  blow  will  be 
permitted  to  fall  upon  your  shrinking  soul  but 
that  the  love  of  God  permits  it,  and  works  out 
from  it  depths  of  blessing  and  spiritual  enrich- 
ment unseen,  and  unthought-of  by  you. 

2fC  ^  ^  ^ 

Remember  the  fathkrhood  of  God 

A  visitor  at  a  school  for  the  deaf  and  dumb 
was  writing  questions  on  the  blackboard  for  the 
children.  By  and  by  he  wrote  this  sentence, 
''Why  has  God  made  me  to  hear  and  speak,  and 
made  you  deaf  and  dumb?"  The  awful  sen- 
tence fell  upon  the  little  ones  like  a  fierce  blow 
in  the  face.  They  sat  palsied  before  that  dread- 
ful ''why."  And  then  a  little  girl  arose.  Her 
lip  was  trembling.  Her  eyes  were  swimming 
with  tears.  Straight  to  the  board  she  walked, 
and,  picking  up  the  crayon  wrote  with  firm 
hand  these  precious  words : — 


CHASTENING,  21 

"Even  so  Father  for  so  it  seemed  good  in 
Thy  sight!"  What  a  reply!  It  reaches  up  and 
lays  hold  of  an  eternal  truth  upon  which  the 
maturest  believer  as  well  as  the  youngest  child 
of  God  may  alike  unshakeably  rest — the  truth 
that  God  is  your  Father.  Do  you  mean  that? 
Do  you  really  and  fully  believe  that?  When 
you  do,  then  your  dove  of  faith  will  no  longer 
wander  in  weary  unrest,  but  will  settle  down 
forever  in  its  eternal  resting  place  of  peace. 
''Your  Father r  Why  that  takes  in  everything! 
Because  He  is  your  Father,  how  could  He  fail, 
or  forget  you  ?  Look  into  your  own  father  heart 
and  mark  the  strength,  the  tenderness,  the  un- 
speakableness  of  your  love  for  that  winsome  lit- 
tle one  enshrined  in  your  heart  of  hearts.  Then 
say  to  yourself,  ''God's  Father  love  for  me  in- 
fmitely  surpasses  all  this."  Your  Father!  Against 
that  all  doubts  must  at  last  dash  themselves  to 
pieces  as  the  sea-spray  beats  itself  to  nothingness 
upon  a  rock-bound  coast.  Down  upon  that  your 
child-trained  soul  will  find  a  final  resting  place 
in  untrembling  trustfulness.  Rear  that  up  before 
the  devil's  subtle,  hideous,  hissing  "whv"  and  he 
will  stago-er  back,  the  unmasked,  baffled,  beaten 
traitor  that  in  truth  he  is. 


Give  God  a  Chance, 


''Prove  me  now.'' — Mai.  3 :  10. 

In  a  great  city  telegraph  office  scores  of  instru- 
ments were  busily  clicking  away.  Presently,  in 
the  midst  of  the  din  and  clatter,  the  door  opened, 
and  in  walked  a  young  man — a  stranger.  He  was 
tall,  and  rather  awkward,  with  a  linen  duster 
reaching  nearly  to  his  heels.  In  response  to  his 
request  for  employment  the  chief  operator  mo- 
tioned him  to  a  chair.  By  and  by  another  instru- 
ment began  to  click.  The  most  important  work 
of  the  day  was  on  hand.  The  press  dispatches 
were  ready,  at  the  distant  city.  And  by  his  table 
in  that  city  sat  one  of  the  swiftest  writers,  and 
most  skilful  operators  in  the  service,  waiting  to 
began  his  rapid  sending.  The  chief  motioned  to 
the  tall  young  man  to  take  his  seat  at  the  table  at 
which  the  press  news  was  to  be  received.  He 
quietly  did  so.  The  other  workers  lifted  their 
heads  from  their  instruments,  to  look  askance  at 
the  rustic  stranger  in  his  attempt  to  "take"  the 
fastest  man  on  the  line.  They  were  watching  for 
him  to  fail.  But  he  had  no  notion  of  doing  so. 
Answering  the  call  he  took  up  his  pen  and  began 
to  write.  And  there  for  hour  after  hour  he  sat. 
22 


GIVE  GOD  A  CHANCE.  23 

Without  a  break,  without  a  halt;  writing  a  hand 
Hke  a  copper-plate  in  its  clearness  and  beauty,  he 
tossed  off  sheet  after  sheet  of  copy  to  the  waiting 
messenger  boy,  while  all  the  office  stared  in  as- 
tonished admiration.  When  the  work  was  fin- 
ished, the  position  was  his  without  any  further 
question.  \Vhen  asked  his  name,  he  replied — 
Edison.  It  was  the  beginning  of  his  world-wide 
fame.  All  he  wanted  was — a  chance.  And  when 
he  got  it  he  did  marvels. 

And  is  not  this  the  homely  expression  of  the 
real  thought  in  the  verse  from  ]\Ialachi,  cited 
above.  "Bring  ye  all  the  tithes.  .  .Prove  Me  now 
.  .  .if  I  will  not  open  the  windows  of  heaven." 
What  is  God  saying  here  but  this?  ''^ly  child,  I 
still  have  windows  in  heaven.  They  are  yet  in 
service.  The  bolts  slide  as  easily  as  of  old.  The 
hinges  have  not  grown  rusty.  I  would  rather 
fling  them  open,  and  pour  forth,  than  keep  them 
shut  and  hold  back.  I  opened  them  for  Moses, 
and  the  sea  parted.  I  opened  them  for  Joshua, — 
and  Jordan  rolled  back.  I  opened  them  for  Gid- 
eon, and  the  hosts  fled.  I  will  open  them  for 
you, — if  you  will  only  let  me.  On  this  side  of  the 
windows  heaven  is  the  same  rich  store-house  as 
of  old.  The  fountains  and  streams  still  overflow. 
The  treasure  rooms  are  still  bursting  with  gifts. 
The  lack  is  not  on  My  side.  It  is  on  yours.  / 
am  waiting.  /  am  ready.  Prove  I\Ie  now.  Ful- 
fill the  conditions,  on  your  part.  Bring  in  the 
tithes.    Give  Me  a  chance. 


24  LIFE  TALKS.  '^""^ 

And  first,  theti,  let  us 

*     *     *     * 
Give  God  a  chance, — hy  trusting. 

F'aith  opens  the  soul  to  God.  It  is  the  channel 
down  which  God's  heavenly  blessings  flow  to 
usward.  It  is  the  bridge  which  leaps  the  chasm 
between  heaven  and  earth.  It  is  the  ladder  over 
which  God's  messengers  of  help  journey  to  us 
needy  earthlings.  It  is  Faith  which  gives  God  a 
chance  to  work  in  your  life  and  soul.  Turning 
away  from  God  in  un-faith  is  putting  a  plate- 
glass  between  you  and  an  electric  current;  it 
shuts  oflf  the  flow  of  life.  It  is  stopping  your  ears 
with  cotton,  so  that  no  note  of  a  song  can  float  in 
upon  your  soul.  It  is  wearing  a  bandage  over 
your  eyes,  so  that  no  glint  of  the  beauty  of  dawn 
or  sunset  can  come  to  your  blinded  vision.  The 
life,  the  light,  the  song  are  there.  But  you  shut 
them  out.    You  give  them  no  chance. 

A  simple  picture  illustration  comes  to  mind 
here.  It  is  that  of  a  human  hand.  In  the  hand 
is  an  empty  bottle.  The  bottle  is  under  a  foun- 
tain. The  waters  are  flowing  atop,  at  the  sides, 
all  over  the  bottle.  But  there  is  not  a  drop  inside. 
Underneath  is  the  legend :  **Why  is  the  bottle  not 
filled?"  The  reason  is  simple.  There  is  a  cork 
in  the  bottle.  It  has  no  chance.  Even  so  Faith 
is  the  soul's  in-take.  Through  it  God's  life  comes 
in.    Love  is  the  soul's  outlet.    Through  it  God's 


GIVE  GOD  A  CHANCE.  25 

life  pours  forth.     To  clog  either  is  to  stay  the 
flow  of  life.    You  give  God  no  chance. 

Unsaved  friend,  why  do  you  continue  to  live  in 
the  shadow  of  death?  Why  has  not  the  miracle 
of  the  new  birth  been  wrought  in  your  soul  ?  Why 
do  you,  every  moment,  stand  in  jeopardy  of  a 
catastrophe  which  all  the  years  of  eternity  can 
never  set  right?  Simply  because  you  will  not 
fulfill  God's  simple  conditions.  You  zcill  not  ac- 
cept and  trust  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Saviour  of  your 
soul.  You  will  not  give  God  a  chance.  Suppose 
the  delicate  mechanism  of  your  gold  watch  has  a 
breakage.  You  take  it  to  the  watchmaker  and 
ask  if  he  can  repair  it.  He  says  he  can,  if  you 
will  but  leave  it  in  his  hands  for  a  few  days.  At 
once  you  trust  him  with  it.  For  you  know  he 
can  do  nothing  unless  you  give  him  a  chance.  Or 
you  want  your  portrait  painted.  You  go  to  an 
artist  friend.  He  tells  you  he  will  do  it.  But  he 
says  you  must  come  daily  to  him,  for  so  many  sit- 
tings. You  straightway  obey.  For  you  know 
he  cannot  paint  your  portrait  unless  you  give  hirrt 
a  chance.  Or  you  go  to  a  dock,  and  ask  the  cap- 
tain of  a  steamship  if  he  will  land  you  on  the 
other  side  of  the  ocean.  He  says  he  will,  if  you 
will  buy  a  ticket,  step  aboard  the  boat,  and  trust 
him  to  carry  you  over.  This  too  you  do.  For  you 
know  you  can  never  cross  the  ocean  unless  you 
trust  yourself  to  the  ship.  You  must  needs  give 
it  a  chance.  How  strange  then,  that  you  will  not 
rive  God  the  same  chance  in  eternal  matters  which 


26  LIFE  TALKS. 

you  give  to  men  in  temporal  ones !  There  is  a 
breach  in  your  soul  of  vastly  more  moment  than 
the  breakage  in  your  watch.  God  will  mend  it — 
if  you  give  Him  a  chance.  There  is  a  picture — 
the  image  of  Jesus  Christ — to  be  painted  upon 
your  inner  being, — as  upon  every  other  life  that 
would  enter  heaven.  God  will  paint  it — if  you 
give  him  a  chance.  There  is  a  journey  out  into 
the  unknown  abyss  of  eternity,  which  no  man  can 
ever  take  to  save  by  God's  way,  and  God's  guid- 
ance. God  will  pilot  you  all  the  way — if  you  give 
Him  a  chance.  Be  as  fair  to  God  in  matters  of 
eternity,  as  you  are  to  men  in  the  concerns  of 
time.  Fulfil  His  simple  conditions  of  salvation. 
Give  yourself  to  Him.  Trust  Him,  in  Christ.  He 
will  surely  save  your  soul — if  you  only  give  Him 
a  chance. 


Give  God  a  chance, — by  praying. 

There  are  many  things  too  difficult  for  you  to 
do.  But  you  do  not  hesitate  to  seek  some  one 
more  skilful  and  give  him  a  chance  to  do  for  you. 
You  have  a  precious  gem  to  re-set.  You  cannot 
do  it.  But  you  are  quick  to  give  the  expert  jew- 
eler a  chance  to  do  it  for  you.  There  is  a  danger- 
ous mountain  steep  to  climb.  You  do  not  know 
how  to  find  the  pathway.  But  you  give  the  moun- 
tain guide  a  chance  to  lead  you  in  it.  There  is  a 
deep  ford  to  cross.    You  cannot  risk  it.    But  you 


GIVB  GOD  A  CHANCE.  27 

give  the  hardy  ferryman  a  chance  to  pilot  you 
across  it. 

It  is  not  otherwise  with  you  and  God.  There 
are  many  things  you  cannot  do.  But  God  says: 
"If  ye  ask  I  will  do."  There  are  burdens  you 
cannot  bear.  Give  God  a  chance  through  prayer, 
and  He  will  bear  them  for  you.  There  are  prob- 
lems too  knotty  for  your  solution.  Give  God  ? 
chance  by  prayer,  and  God  will  solve  them  for 
you.  There  are  barriers  too  high  for  you  to  over- 
leap. Ask  God.  They  are  not  too  high  for  Him. 
Somehow  when  there  seems  no  other  chance  for 
us,  prayer  gives  God  a  chance.  And  behold  He 
does  for  us  what  we  had  forever  despaired  of 
doing  ourselves. 

A  Christian  business  friend  was  in  sore  straits. 
A  sudden  demand  had  been  made  upon  him  for 
a  large  sum  of  money.  Every  consideration  of 
business  honor  demanded  its  payment.  Yet  he 
was  helpless  to  meet  it.  The  only  possible  way 
out  of  the  crisis  seemed  to  be  the  sale  of  a  piece 
of  real  estate.  But  the  market  was  discouragingly 
dull.  There  was  scarcely  a  buyer  in  it.  In  short 
there  was  no  human  chance  of  selling  it.  So  we 
determined  to  give  God  a  chance.  Spreading  the 
whole  matter  before  Him,  we  began  to  pray. 
After  two  weeks  of  earnest  supplication  a  man 
came  to  ask  our  friend  if  his  real  estate  was  in 
the  market.  In  another  week  he  came  again  and 
asked  the  price.  A  little  later  he  made  our  friend 
an  offer.    The  latter,  however,  deemed  it  too  low. 


28  LIPE  TALKS. 

So  we  prayed  on,  that  God  might  work  His  per- 
fect will  in  it  all.  At  the  end  of  six  weeks  of 
prayer  the  sale  was  made,  and  our  friend  came  to 
us  with  a  check  for  many  thousands  of  dollars  in 
his  hand.  With  tears  in  his  eyes,  he  said:  "It 
seems  to  have  come  as  directly  from  God  as 
though  He  Himself  had  handed  it  to  me  over  the 
counter  of  the  bank."  That  was  true.  It  was  all 
of  God.    We  had  simply  given  Him  a  chance. 

*     *     *     * 

It  takes  God  Time:  to  anszver  prayer;  give  Him  a 
chance. 

We  often  fail  to  give  God  a  chance  in  this  re- 
spect. It  takes  time  for  God  to  paint  a  rose.  It 
takes  time  for  God  to  grow  an  oak.  It  takes  time 
for  God  to  make  bread  from  a  wheat  field.  He 
takes  the  earth.  He  pulverizes.  He  softens.  He 
enriches.  He  wets  with  showers  and  dews.  He 
warms  with  life.  He  gives  the  blade,  the  stock, 
the  amber  grain,  and  then  at  last  the  bread  for 
the  hungry.  All  this  takes  time.  Therefore  we 
sow,  and  till,  and  wait,  and  trust,  until  all  God's 
purpose  has  been  wrought  out.  We  give  God  a 
chance  in  this  matter  of  time.  We  need  to  learn 
this  same  lesson  in  our  prayer  life.  It  takes  God 
time  to  answer  prayer. 

A  Christian  worker  had  reached  the  end  of  the 
week,  well  wearied  with  service.  The  sunshine 
and  rippling  river  were  luring  him  to  an  hour's 
rowing.     Boarding  a  passing  car  he  was  soon 


GIVU  GOD  A  CHANCE.  2f) 

on  the  way  to  the  river  bank.  As  he  neared  it  he 
remembered  that  it  was  late  in  the  season,  and 
there  was  a  hkehhood  of  the  boat-house  being 
closed.  But  the  outing  for  tired  nerves  and 
weary  body  seemed  a  clear  need.  So  he  lifted 
his  heart  quietly  in  prayer  that  if  it  were  the 
Lord's  will  He  might  send  along  the  caretaker  of 
the  boat-house  to  furnish  the  boat.  Reaching  the 
spot  he  found  to  his  disappointment  that  the  house 
was  closed.  Turning  to  leave  under  the  impulse 
of  the  moment,  the  thought  flashed  in  *'It  has  only 
been  a  moment  or  two  since  you  prayed  the  Lord 
to  send  along  the  boatman,  and  now  you  are  go- 
ing away  without  even  waiting  long  enough  for 
him  to  get  here.  Why  don't  you  give  God  a 
chance."  So  he  sat  down  by  the  river  bank  to 
wait.  In  ten  minutes  the  boat-keeper  came  stroll- 
ing along.  The  house  was  opened,  the  boat  se- 
cured, and  the  refreshing  hour's  outing  enjoyed 
to  the  full.  With  it  came  another  simple  lesson 
in  the  prayer-life,  that  it  takes  God  time  to  answer 
prayer,  and  that  we  therefore  need  to  give  God 
a  chance. 

Take  this  matter  of  conversion.  You  have  an 
unsaved  loved  one.  You  have  prayed  for  him — 
for  months — for  years.  He  is  still  outside  the 
kingdom.  God  has  not  answered  your  prayer, 
you  say.  But  perhaps  you  are  at  sea  in  your  view 
of  conversion.  Does  God  bring  a  soul  into  His 
kingdom  as  you  might  lift  a  child  over  a  hedge,  or 
hurl  a  stone  across  a  stream  ?    Does  man's  choice 


30  LIFE  TALKS. 

have  no  place  in  this  ?  It  surely  does.  It  matters 
not  by  what  theological  side-path  you  approach 
this  matter  of  conversion.  One  thing  is  certain, 
however  God  may  move  upon  man's  will  He  does 
not  supplant  that  will.  Whatever  may  be  the  mys- 
tery of  God's  choice,  no  soul  ever  comes  into  the 
kingdom  without  his  own  choice. 

Hence  concerning  the  conversion  of  a  resisting 
soul  remember  this.  God  is  strkdng  with  a  human 
zvilL  But  do  you  know  what  it  is  to  move  upon 
a  human  will?  This  very  loved  one  you  have 
warned.  With  him  you  have  pleaded.  With  him 
you  have  reasoned.  Yet  all  these  years  that 
strong  will  has  stood  out  against  you.  Now,  at 
the  last,  you  have  given  up  in  sheer  despair  the 
attempt  to  move  upon  a  human  will.  Do  you  not 
realize  then  what  it  means  for  God  to  do  it?  God 
may  have  heart-idols  to  overthrow.  God  may 
have  to  foil  chosen  plans.  God  may  suffer  afflic- 
tions to  come.  God  must  press  in  upon  the  man 
engrossed  in  the  temporal,  a  growing  vision  of 
the  eternal.  God  must  needs  cherish,  woo,  dis- 
appoint, uplift,  bereave,  enrich,  impoverish, — yea, 
bring  to  bear  a  multitude  of  influences  upon  a  re- 
sisting will,  ere  it  yields  to  Him.  But  to  unstop 
ears  deaf  to  the  voice  of  God — to  open  eyes  blind 
to  the  vision  of  God — to  turn  aside  wandering  feet 
into  the  path  of  God — all  this  takes  time.  There- 
fore— Give  God  a  chance. 


GIVE  GOD  A  CHANCE.  31 

Give  God  a  chance, — by  yielding. 

God  can  do  nothing  with  us  if  we  do  not  yield — 
He  has  no  chance. 

We  recall  a  day  of  sight-seeing  in  the  palaces 
of  Genoa.  From  room  to  room  we  had  followed 
the  care-taker  in  his  tour.  Paintings,  sculpture, 
curios  of  all  sorts  had  followed  each  other  in 
rapid  train.  Finally  we  entered  a  room  seemingly 
empty.  Bare  walls,  floors,  and  tables  alone  greet- 
ed us.  Presently  the  guide  led  us  across  the 
room  to  the  wall  at  the  farther  side.  There  we 
espied  a  niche  in  the  wall.  It  was  covered  with  a 
glass  case.  Behind  the  case  was  a  magnificent 
violin,  in  perfect  preservation.  This,  said  the 
guide,  was  Paganini's  favorite  violin ;  the  rich  old 
Cremona  upon  which  he  loved  most  of  all  to  dis- 
play his  marvelous  skill.  We  gazed  intentlv  upon 
the  superb  instrument,  with  its  warm,  rich  tints, 
sinuous  curves,  and  perfect  model,  listening  mean- 
while to  the  estimate  of  its  almost  priceless  value. 
And  then  we  tried  to  imagine  the  wondrous 
strains  the  touch  of  the  .ereat  master  would  bring 
forth  if  he  were  there  in  that  quiet  palace  chamber. 
Then  came  the  thought:  Nay.  But  this  could  not 
be.  For  it  would  not  matter  what  rich  melodies 
were  in  the  inner  soul  of  the  master.  It  would 
not  avail  how  eager  he  might  be  to  pour  them 
forth  in  sweetest,  tenderest  strain  through  that 
magnificent  instrument.  He  could  not  possibly  do 
so.    For  it  was  locked  up  against  him.     It  was  an 


32  LIFE  TALKS. 

unyielded  instrument.  It  was  like  thousands  of 
lives  which  are  pad-locked  against  God,  not  back 
of  a  fragile,  easily  shattered  glass  case,  but  be- 
hind the  impenetrable  armor  plate  of  an  unyielded 
human  will.    It  gave  the  Master  no  chance. 

Friend,  is  this  why  your  life  seems  barren  and 
fruitless?  Is  this  why  God  does  not  seem  to  be 
using  that  Hfe?  Is  it  that,  however  willing.  He 
cannot  use  it  because  unyielded  to  Him  ?  For  this 
picture  of  an  instrument  is  no  fancy,  but  the  very 
one  God  employs  in  His  Word.  "Present  your 
members  as  instruments  to  God,"  He  says.  And 
how  can  He  use  an  un-presented  instrument?  The 
very  word  "present"  pictures  the  secret  of  your 
trouble.  It  means  "to  place  near  the  hand"  of 
one;  to  set  at  the  hand  of  another  as  one  might 
set  a  tool  or  instrument.  To  be  a  surrendered 
man,  a  yielded  man,  is  simply  to  be  God's  handy 
man.  The  carpenter  is  at  work.  Some  of  his 
tools  are  hanging  on  the  wall  of  his  workshop. 
Some  are  right  at  hand  on  his  work -bench.  When 
he  wants  one  quickly  and  urgently  which  will  he 
use?  The  one  he  can  reach  quickest — the  one 
"set  at  his  hand."  This  is  precisely  where  God 
wants  your  life.  Not  hanging  on  the  wall  of  self- 
ishness, but  yielded — reachable — usable.  This  is 
what  gives  God  a  chance. 

Moses,  with  his  hesitation  and  stammering 
tongue,  sefemed  but  a  weak  instrument.  But  he 
gave  God  a  chance.  And  God  made  him  the  law- 
giver and  leader  of  His  people.    Gideon  looked 


GIVE  GOD  A  CHANCE.  33 

with  fear  and  trembling  upon  the  great  work  be- 
fore him.  Yet  he  gave  God  a  chance.  And  God 
routed  a  great  and  mighty  host  with  his  puny 
lamps  and  pitcher.  David  was  but  a  stripling 
shepherd,  shut  up  in  obscurity.  But  he  gave  God 
a  chance.  And  God  brought  him  to  a  throne.  The 
little  lad  with  the  loaves  and  fishes  had  but  a 
mite.  But  he  gave  God  a  chance.  And  the  Mas- 
ter brake,  and  brake  the  morsels  until  a  famish- 
ing multitude  was  fed  before  the  wondering  eyes 
of  the  grateful  boy.  The  man  on  the  Damascus 
road  gave  God  a  chance  on  that  fateful  day.  And 
God  shook  the  world  with  him.  Seven  weary 
fishermen  peered  through  the  morning  gloaming 
upon  the  form  of  one  standing  upon  the  shore. 
The  night  was  far  spent.  The  day  was  at  hand. 
The  hour  for  successful  fishing  was  past.  But 
when  the  voice  rang  out  over  the  waters:  "Cast 
the  net  on  the  right  side  of  the  ship,"  they  yield- 
ed to  the  Master.  And  He  gave  them  such  a 
catch  as  they  had  never  known  in  all  their  fisher 
days — when  they  gave  Him  the  chance. 

It  is  not  how  much  do  you  have,  but  how  much 
of  yours  does  God  have.  It  is  not  a  question  of 
bemoaning  what  you  have  not,  but  of  yielding 
what  you  have.  One  talent  yielded,  is  worth 
more  than  ten  simply  possessed.  Is  your  hand- 
ful of  grain  in  the  hands  of  the  sower?  That  bit 
yielded,  is  worth  more  than  a  bin,  boarded.  The 
nugget  of  gold,  which  has  been  minted  and  coin- 
ed, and  is  purchasing  hourly  blessing  as  it  passes 


34  IIPB  TALKS. 

from  hand  to  hand,  is  worth  all  the  undug  tons 
of  treasure  which  the  earth  conceals. 

Reader,  you  have  given  pleasure  a  chance.  Has 
it  paid  ?  You  are  giving  ambition  a  chance.  Does 
it  satisfy?  You  are  giving  money-getting  a 
chance.  Is  it  for  self  or  God?  Have  a  care. 
When  life  comes  to  an  end  is  it  going  to  be 
ashes — emptiness — f ruitlessness ?  What  a  pity! 
Try  God.  Give  Him  a  chance.  What  is  your 
life,  anyhow?  Where  is  it  centered?  On  self  or 
God?  Is  it  counting  for  eternity?  Or  only  for 
time?  Sit  down  a  while  and  think,  not  only 
about  your  soul,  but  your  life.  Ask  yourself  not 
necessarily  what  God's  judgment  will  be,  but 
what  your  own  honest  verdict  upon  your  life  will 
be  if  it  goes  on  to  the  finish  exactly  as  it  is  now. 
Any  Christian  man  who  will  do  that  honestly  will 
begin  to  live  for  God.  He  will  see  that  an  im- 
mortal life  which  does  not  take  into  account  God's 
eternal  plan  for  it,  must  be  a  failure. 

Friend,  when  you  come  to  the  end  where  the 
world  will  have  shriveled  to  its  true  littleness, 
and  eternity  loomed  up  to  its  real  bigness ;  when 
the  things  which  are  seen  are  really  found  to  be 
temporal  and  the  things  which  are  unseen,  eter- 
nal ;  when  you  are  on  the  brink  of  stepping  over 
into  the  glory  where  God  is  all  and  in  all;  then 
you  will  be  glad,  oh,  so  glad,  that  to-day,  when 
you  finished  this  message,  you  laid  it  down  and 
decided  that  as  for  you  and  your  life,  from  this 
time  forth  you  would 

Give — God — a — chance. 


The  Blood-Covenant. 


John  15:  13-15.— "Greater  love  hath  no  man  than 
this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his'  friends.  Ye 
are  My  friends  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I  command  you. 
Henceforth  I  call  you  not  servants,  for  the  servant 
knoweth  not  what  his  lord  doeth  but  I  have  called  you 
friends ;  for  all  things  that  I  have  heard  of  My  Father, 
I  have  made  known  unto  you." 

"And  Abraham  was  called  the  Friend  of  God." — 
James  2 :  23. 

In  the  days  of  Abraham,  the  relation  of  friend- 
ship was  entered  into  by  a  rite  which  was  pecu- 
liar and  significant.  Two  men,  desiring  to  come 
into  the  place  of  friendship  with  each  other,  con- 
stituted that  friendship  by  this  rite,  which  was 
known  as  "The  Blood-Covenant."  The  parties 
came  together  with  a  common  cup.  Each  man 
pricked  his  arm  with  a  sharp  instrument,  and 
allowed  a  few  drops  of  blood  to  flow  into  the 
cup.  Sometimes  this  commingled  blood  was  also 
mixed  with  water.  Then  each  man  drank  from 
the  cup  which  contained  the  blood  of  each.  When 
they  had  so  drunk,  they  were  constituted  friends 
by  this  custom  of  their  tribe.  From  this  rite  of 
friendship  sprang  some  beautiful  and  interesting 
truths  we  desire  to  bring  before  you  at  this  time 
35 


36  LIFE  TALKS. 

in  our  study  of  the  Word  of  God.    The  first  one 
is  this : — 

*  *  ^H  5)^ 

Bach  man  laid  down  his  own  life;  for  the  other. 

As  he  cut  the  arm  and  allowed  the  blood  to 
trickle  into  the  cup,  he  allowed  his  own  life  to 
flow  forth.  For  ''the  blood  is  the  Hfe."  And 
each  man,  in  type,  by  that  rite  laid  down  his  own 
life  on  behalf  of  the  other.  "Now,  Abraham 
was  called  the  friend  of  God."  And  we  are  told 
in  one  place  that,  in  entering  into  covenant  rela- 
tion with  God,  Abraham  "cut"  a  covenant  with 
God,  as  though  in  relation  to  this  interesting  rite 
among  the  tribes.  Abraham  was  then  called  "The 
friend  of  God." 

The  time  came  when  God  called  upon  Abra- 
ham to  stand  the  supreme  test  of  friendship: — 
to  pour  out  his  own  life,  if  need  be,  for  his  blood- 
covenant  Friend,  the  God  of  Heaven.  "Abra- 
ham, take  now  thy  son,  thine  only  son,  Isaac, 
whom  thou  lovest,  and  offer  him  for  a  burnt-of- 
fering." That  was  the  supreme  test.  Abraham 
was  to  give  up  his  own  life — yea,  more  than  his 
own  life — for  doubtless  he  would  far  rather  have 
laid  down  his  own  life  than  the  life  of  Isaac. 
You  know  the  story.  You  recall  the  picture  of 
the  father,  with  breaking  heart,  and  the  bright- 
faced  lad,  going  up  the  mountain  path  together: 
— the  angel  of  God  staying  the  hand  of  the  fa- 
ther, and  the  marvellous  grace  and  compassion  of 


THE  BLOOD-COVENANT.  yj 

God  which  spared  Abraham's  only  son.  But  the 
time  came  when  Abraham's  seed  needed  some  one 
to  die  for  them;  to  show  His  love  for  them  even 
unto  death.  And  though  He  spared  Abraham's 
son,  yet  "God  spared  not  His  own  Son,  but  freely 
gave  Him  up  for  us  all."  Ah!  how  Jesus  Christ, 
our  blood-covenant  Friend,  kept  that  blood-cov- 
enant for  you  and  me !  How  He  poured  out  His 
life  in  suffering,  even  unto  death!  They  ar- 
raigned Him ;  they  tried  Him ;  they  bore  false 
witness  against  Him  ;  they  smote  Him  in  the  face ; 
they  scourged  Him;  they  spat  upon  Him;  they 
mock-worshiped  Him;  they  crucified  Him;  they 
jeered  at  Him;  they  wagged  their  heads  at  Him; 
they  railed  on  Him; — but  nothing  could  shake 
His  purpose  to  pour  out  His  own  life  for  us,  His 
blood-oovenant  friends.  We  sing,  "What  a 
Friend  we  have  in  Jesus."  We  sang  it  a  mo- 
ment ago,  and  who  could  doubt  it  ?  No  friend — 
no  one  bound  to  us  by  the  tenderest  and  most  sa- 
cred ties  of  this  world's  relationships,  has  ever 
stood  the  test  of  friendship  as  Jesus  Christ  did 
in  the  laying  down  of  His  life  for  us.  But,  dear 
friends,  can  we  take  the  other  side  of  the  truth 
and  say  "Has  Jesus  Christ  a  friend  in  me?  Have 
I  laid  down  my  life  at  His  feet?"  Turn  some- 
time to  2  Cor.  5:  15,  and  there  note  the  three- 
fold purpose  of  His  death.  "He  died  for  all, 
that  they  which  live  should  no  longer  live  unto 
themselves,  but  unto  Him  who  died  for  them." 
*'He  died" — for  us.     "He  died"  that  we  might 


3S  LIFE  TALKS. 

live.  "He  died"  that  we  who  Hve — should  no 
longer  live  unto  ourselves.  Ah !  we  have  met  the 
purpose  of  Christ's  death  for  us  as  sinners.  We 
have  accepted  it.  We  have  beUeved  and  have 
been  brought  from  eternal  death  to  eternal  life. 
But  is  it  possible  that  any  of  us  are  baffling  the 
third  great  purpose  of  Jesus  Christ's  death — ^the 
purpose  that  the  believer,  who  has  been  delivered 
from  the  guilt  of  sin,  and  unto  eternal  life,  should 
give  his  life  to  his  blood-covenanted  Friend! 

Do  I  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ?  That  is  a 
real  personal  question.  How  may  I  know  that  I 
love  Him?  "Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this, 
that  a  ma.Ti  lay' down  his  life  for  his  friends." 
Ah !  I  may  speak  with  the  tongue  of  men  and  of 
angels,  and  yet  I  may  not  love  my  Lord.  I  may 
have  all  wisdom  and  all  knowledge,  and  have  the 
faith  that  moves  mountains,  and  yet  I  may  not 
love  my  Lord.  I  may  give  my  body  to  be  burned, 
and  yet  I  may  not  love  my  Lord,  supremely.  But 
there  is  one  thing  He  says  I  may  do  which  is  the 
supreme  test  of  love  to  Him: — "Greater  love 
hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his 
life"  for  Jesus  Christ.  We  cannot  lay  it  down 
in  atonement  as  He  did.  But  we  can  lay  it  down 
as  a  blessed,  precious  living  sacrifice  at  His  feet, 
and  thus  be  His  friend.    Again : — 


THE  BLOOD-COVENANT.  39 

Bach  man  received  the  life  of  the  other. 

When  each  man  took  that  cup,  and  drank  of 
the  blood  his  friend  had  allowed  to  drip  into  it,  he 
received  the  life  of  his  friend  in  type.  For  the 
blood  is  the  life.  And  as  he  drank  the  blood  he 
drank  the  life.  "This  cup  is  the  new  covenant 
in  My  blood :  drink  ye  all  of  it."  I  wonder  if  His 
mind  did  not  go  back  to  that  beautiful  picture  of 
hundreds  of  years  before,  and  if  He  did  not  mean 
to  make  use  of  that  to  make  so  vivid  the  great 
truth  that  he  had  poured  out  His  blood  m  that 
cup  for  them  to  drink,  in  type.  I  say,  each  man 
received  the  life  of  the  other.  "Oh!  but,"  you 
say,  "how  could  this  be  true  of  Jesus,  our  blood- 
covenant  Friend?"  Listen: — "He  took  not  on 
Him  the  nature  of  angels,  but  the  seed  of  Abra- 
ham'' His  blood-covenant  friend.  He  took  our 
human  nature,  did  He  not?  He  might  have  been 
a  mighty  angel.  He  might  have  gone  back  and 
forth  between  heaven  and  earth,  making  occa- 
sional visits  to  this  sin-stained,  dying  world,  in 
all  the  radiance  of  His  angelic  presence.  But, 
oh!  there  was  more  in  His  divine  heart  of  love 
than  that  for  us.  He  took  not  the  nature  of  an- 
gels, but  the  seed  of  Abraham.  He  became  a 
man  that  He  might  suffer  with  us; — that  He 
might  be  "a  High  Priest  that  could  be  touched 
with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities;"  that  He 
might  be  "tempted  even  as  we  are,  yet  apart  from 
sin ;"  that  He  might  enter  into  every  condition  of 


40  LIPB  TALKS. 

our  human  life; — that  He  might  be  a  God  who 
would  actually  partake  of  our  human  nature  and 
drink  of  our  own  human  cup  of  sorrow,  trial, 
testing,  weariness,  and  weeping.  Yet  He  did  even 
more  than  that.  Not  only  did  He  take  our  life,  as 
it  zvere,  but  we  have  received  His  life!  He  took 
our  human  nature  up  to  God ;  He  brought  God's 
divine  nature  down  to  us.  He,  who  was  the  Son 
of  God,  became  a  man.  We  who  are  men  be- 
come, by  faith  in  Him,  the  sons  of  God.  How 
wonderful  is  this  trurt;h !  And  how  God  seems  to 
want  to  emphasize  this,  next  to  the  atonement  of 
Jesus  Christ  for  sins: — that  the  life  of  Christ 
comes  into  ^hi}  and'inth  me  as^ we  Believe  in  Jesus 
Christ.  Tufn^d  Sebfe*^g,ch'api. '6,  verses  13-17. 
"For  when  God  made  pft)mise'  td  Abraham,  since 
He  could  swear  by  noii^  greater.  He  szvare  by 
Himself,  saying,  'Surely  blessing,  I  will  bless 
thee,  and  multiplying,  I  will  multiply  thee.'  And 
thus,  having  patiently  endured,  he  obtained  the 
promise.  For  men  swear  by  the  greater ;  and  in 
every  dispute  of  theirs,  the  oath  is  final  for  con- 
firmation. Wherein  God,  being  minded  to  show 
more  abundantly  unto  the  heirs  of  the  promise 
the  immutability  of  His  counsel,  interposed  with 
an  oath."  What  wonderful  thing  is  this  that  God 
condescends  to  swear  shall  be  given  to  the  heirs 
of  promise?  God  comes  down  to  the  sanctions 
which  men  themselves  use,  and  swears  that  the 
blessing  of  Abraham,  His  blood-covenant  friend, 
shall  come  upon  the  heirs  of  promise.     "Well," 


THE  BLOOD-COVENANT.  41 

we  say,  "but  that  must  be  some  Jewish  promise: 
something  for  the  natural  seed  of  Abraham." 
But  now  turn  to  Galatians  (3:  14),  and  see  how 
wondrously  God  himself  puts  his  finger  upon 
this  promise,  that  we  might  never  err  or  mis- 
take its  nature.  He  swears  that  the  blessing  of 
Abraham  shall  come  upon  the  heirs  of  the  prom- 
ise. 

And  who  are  these  heirs?  And  what  is  this 
promise?  Let  us  read — ''That  upon  the  Gentiles 
might  come  the  blessing  of  Abraham  in  Christ 
Jesus;  that  we  might  receive  the  promise  of  the 
Spirit  through  faith." 

"The  promise  of  the  Spirit:" — that  was  the 
blessing,  that  which  was  to  come  on  the  Gentiles  ; 
the  Spirit  of  God ;  the  very  life  of  God  which  was 
to  be  received  through  Jesus  Christ  when  men 
believed  in  Him.  The  instant  the  Gospel  is 
preached  at  the  formation  of  the  young  church, 
and  men  begin  to  cry  out — "^len  and  brethren, 
what  shall  we  do  ?"  the  answer  comes  as  we  have 
it  in  Acts  2 :  38.  What  God  swore  to  happens. 
''Repent  and  be  baptized  into  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  ye  shall  receive  the  Holy  Ghost." 
How  plain ! — that  the  instant  we  believe  in  him, 
the  very  life  of  God  himself  comes  into  you  and 
me !  I  have  no  theory  concerning  the  Holy  Spirit. 
I  have  no  controversy  with  you  concerning  His 
indwelling.  But  I  do  say  that  God  swears  that 
every  child  of  His  that  believes  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  shall  receive  the  Spirit  of  God.     Can  we 


42  UFB  TALKS. 

ever  doubt  that  to  which  God  has  sworn  ?  If  we 
are  His  children,  let  us  believe  that  the  life  of 
God  has  as  really  come  into  us  as  the  flesh  and 
blood  life  of  our  father  and  mother,  which  runs 
in  our  veins.  He  Himself  says,  "This  cup  is  the 
new  covenant  in  My  blood" — the  covenant  of 
grace — the  promise  of  the  Spirit — the  promise  of 
the  life  of  God  in  us,  to  enable  us  to  keep  and  do 
the  will  of  God  as  we  never  could  under  the  law. 
When  we  drink  that  cup,  then  let  us  remember 
that  as  surely  as  the  glow,  and  the  warmth,  and 
the  life  of  that  wine  is  present  in  our  bodies,  so 
surely  is  the  spiritual  life  of  Jesus  Christ  dwell- 
ing within  us.  God,  with  the  whole  universe  from 
which  to  choose  a  dwelling-place  for  Himself  and 
for  His  life,  chose  your  body  and  mine !  We  have 
received  the  life  of  Christ.    Again : — 

9|C  »fC  SfC  SfC 

Bach  man  was  ^ill^d  with  love:  for  the  other. 

When  these  friends  drank  of  that  blood  of  the 
covenant,  their  hearts  clave  one  to  another,  as 
did  the  hearts  of  Jonathan  and  David ;  and  from 
that  time  they  loved  one  another  as  none  others 
loved  in  all  that  tribe.  And  as  we  think  of  our 
blood-covenant  Friend,  what  a  Lover  of  our  souls 
was  He!  How  tender  was  His  love.  We  see 
Him  giving  over  His  mother  into  the  hands  of  the 
beloved  disciples,  in  the  hour  of  His  keenest 
agony.  How  thoughtful  was  His  love !  We  see 
Him  providing  for  the  hungry  and  fainting  thou- 


THE  BLOOD-COVENANT.  43 

sands  by  preparing  the  great  dinner  to  meet  their 
needs.  By  the  sea-shore  in  the  morning  twiHght, 
as  the  wearied  apostles  come  from  their  night's 
toihng — we  see  Him  making  ready  the  breakfast 
for  them: — Jesus  Christ,  the  Lord  of  the  uni- 
verse, making  breakfast  for  His  own!  We  see 
the  compassion  of  His  love  as  it  went  out  to  the 
waifs  and  the  strays,  the  sin-stained  and  suffering. 
We  see  the  imchangeableness  of  His  love,  as  we 
are  told  that  He  loved  His  own  "even  unto  the 
end:" — unto  the  end  of  their  coldness; — unto 
the  end  of  betrayal  of  Him; — unto  the  end  of 
denial  of  Him; — unto  the  end  of  all  His  own 
agony  He  loved  His  own.  We  see  this  wondrous 
love  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  we  too  long  to  possess  it. 
What  is  the  secret  of  love  in  our  hearts  ?  Listen : 
— each  man  received  the  life  of  the  other.  Come 
out  with  me  into  the  orchard  where  the  fruit- 
trees  are.  Do  you  see  the  patient  husbandman  at 
work  ?  He  is  cultivating  the  trees ;  he  is  fertiliz- 
ing them;  he  is  pruning  out  the  dead  wood  and 
superfluous  branches.  You  stand  there  watching 
him  a  while,  and  then  you  say,  "But,  my  friend, 
what  about  the  fruit?  I  do  not  see  any  signs  of 
fruit."  And  he  looks  up  with  a  knowing  smile — 
does  this  wise  husbandman — and  says,  "I  am 
fertilizing  for  life;  I  am  tilling  for  life;  I  am 
pruning  for  life;  I  am  cleansing  for  life.  My 
friend,"  and  he  smiles  again,  "when  this  tree  is 
filled  with  life,  I  will  not  have  any  concern  about 
fruit."    Assuredly,  the  secret  of  fulness  of  love 


44  UPB  TALKS. 

is  simply  the  secret  of  fulness  of  life — the  life  of 
His  Spirit  dwelling  in  us.  It  is  life  that  brings 
love. — *'The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love."  Our 
dead,  carnal  natures  do  not  love  as  God  loves. 
They  love  the  world;  they  love  the  ambitions 
of  the  world;  they  love  the  praises,  and  bau- 
bles, and  gewgaws  of  the  world  —  your  carnal 
heart  and  mine.  But  the  God-life,  the  Christ- 
life  in  us,  that  is  love — love  of  others ;  that  is  the 
love  we  desire  to  have;  and  that  is  the  fruit  of 
the  Spirit.  Wherefore  believe  in  the  Spirit's  in- 
dwelling; yield  to  the  Spirit;  trust  in  the  Spirit; 
do  all  that  will  give  the  Spirit  His  way  in  your 
life.  And  as  the  power  and  fulness  of  the  Spirit 
grow  in  your  life,  love  will  grow. 

It  is  a  fruit  of  the  Spirit,  we  have  said.  But 
do  not  forget  that  it  is  a  fruit.  That  means,  give 
it  time.  It  takes  time  for  the  bud  to  swell;  it 
takes  time  for  the  blossom  to  open ;  it  takes  time 
for  the  tiny  fruit  to  form ;  it  takes  time  for  it  to 
round  out  and  develop ;  it  takes  time  for  it  to  ma- 
ture, until  the  beautiful  blush  is  on  it,  and  you 
break  it  open  and  have  the  peach  in  all  its  ripe- 
ness and  lusciousness.  It  takes  time.  Be  patient 
with  yourself  as  you  wait,  and  trust,  and  come  to 
know  more  and  more  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  Then 
some  day  you  will  wake  up  to  realize  that  there  is 
stealing  into  your  heart  a  glow  of  love  for  the 
lost,  and  love  for  others,  and  love  for  the  fallen, 
and  love  for  Christ  such  as  you  never  knew  be- 
fore.   God's  secret  of  love  is  simply  His  secret 


THE  BLOOD-COVENANT.  45 

of  life — the  Christ  Hfe — the  Spirit  of  God  within 


us. 


Bach  friend  did  the  will  of  the  other. 

"Ye  are  my  friends  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I  com- 
mand you/'  Each  friend  stood  ready  to  do  that 
which  pleased  the  other  friend,  even  to  the  laying 
down  of  his  life  for  that  friend.  Well,  can  this 
be  true  of  God,  that  He  does  our  will  ?  Listen  : — 
"If  ye  abide  in  Me,  and  My  words  abide  in  you, 
ye  shall  ask  zchat  ye  zvill,  and  it  shall  he  done 
unto  you."  Behold  the  marvel  apdjshe  jessing 
of  the  Pf3^'|J  li/e|  .X?-3d'Si  wonderful  fact  that, 
for  the  man  or  the  woman  who  is  abiding  in  Him, 
He  stands  ready  to  do  their  ivill,  through  prayer. 
Why  should  it  not  be  so?  When  we  ask  God  to 
do  anything  according  to  His  will,  why  should  He 
not  do  it?  God  is  just  as  pleased  to  do  that  part 
of  His  will  for  which  yon  ask,  as  any  part  of  His 
will  in  the  universe.  It  is  for  the  honor,  and 
glory,  and  interest  of  God  to  do  your  will,  when 
you  are  asking  according  to  His  will.  Out  there 
on  those  great  wheat  farms  in  the  western  prai- 
ries is  not  the  owner  ready  to  do  the  superintend- 
ent's will  as  well  as  the  superintendent  to  do  the 
owner's  will  ?  If  the  harvesting  machine  gets  out 
of  order,  and  the  superintendent  asks  for  its  re- 
pair, it  is  to  the  interest  of  the  owner  to  repair  it. 
If  the  grain  is  mildewed  and  spoiling,  and  the  su- 
perintendent asks  for  hands  to  harvest  it,  it  is  to 


46  LIFE  TALKS. 

the  interest  of  the  owner  to  answer  his  request. 
So  when  we  Hve  in  His  will,  and  are  striving  to 
do  His  will,  it  is  to  the  interest  of  God's  own  king- 
dom that  that  will  be  done,  and  it  pleases  God  to 
do  it.  God  is  just  waiting  for  us  to  choose  His 
will.  And  when  we  choose  to  do  His  will,  and 
ask  for  anything  according  to  it,  He  will  do  it.  I 
tell  you,  the  greatest  thought  about  prayer  is  not 
that  we  are  praying  to  God  to  do  something  for 
us,  but  that  we  are  praying  to  God  to  carry  out 
His  will  in  this  world  of  His.  And  when  we  pray 
that,  God  stands  ready  to  to  carry  it  out.  '*Ye 
shall  ask  what  ye  will  and  it  shall  be  done."  When 
we  say,  "Lord,  I  will  to  separate  myself  from  sin ; 
I  will  to  come  out  from  the  emptiness  and  foolish- 
ness of  the  world ;  I  will  to  walk  closer  with  Thee ; 
I  will  to  know  more  of  Thy  power  through  com- 
munion with  Thee,  through  Thy  Word,  through 
separation  and  service;"  when  we  choose  these 
things  which  are  within  the  will  of  God,  He  is 
ready  to  do  our  will,  because  He  is  simply  doing 
His  own  will  in  us. 

Finally,  are  we  not  the  friends  of  Jesus  in  this 
sense,  that  we  do  His  will?  May  we  speak  of 
this  as  the  final  test  as  He  gives  it  here,  "Ye  are 
My  friends  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I  command  you.'* 
That  is  the  supreme  test,  dear  friends ; — not  how 
I  feel,  but  what  I  am  doing.  And  Christ  says,  that 
if  you  and  I  do  His  will,  this  is  the  test  of  friend- 
ship with  Him.  And  what  is  to  do  His  will? 
What  is  obedience  ?    It  is  an  act,  and  it  is  a  life. 


THE  BLOOD-COVENANT.  47 

The  act  is  the  surrender  to  do  His  will  all  through 
our  life.  Have  we  done  that?  The  life  is  to 
carry  out  the  act  in  every  detail  of  life  and  to 
shape  and  fashion  that  life  not  according  to  our 
own  will  but  according  to  the  will  of  God.  And 
if  you  and  I  take  that  step  and  become  His  blood- 
covenant  friends,  then  this  Book  of  His  becomes 
the  revelation  of  His  will  to  us ;  becomes  the  test 
and  guide  of  our  life.  If  we  are  living  to  do  His 
will  then  it  matters  not  how  much  suffering  it 
means ;  it  matters  not  what  our  friends  may  say ; 
it  matters  not  what  the  opinions  of  others  may  be. 
We  are  to  ask  ourselves,  ''What  does  the  Word  of 
my  Lord  say  about  this  decision,  about  this  step, 
about  this  indulgence  in  my  life?  Whatever  it 
says,  by  God's  grace,  I  am  going  to  do."  That 
is  what  friendship  with  Jesus  means — an  act  by 
which  we  give  up  our  lives  to  do  His  will,  a  life 
in  which  day  by  day  we  steadily,  persistently, 
with  the  guidance  of  this  Book,  fashion  our  lives 
according  to  the  will  of  God. 

And  will  you  notice  as  we  close,  what  Christ 
declares  to  be  the  result?  The  man,  the  woman, 
who  does  this  will — what  does  Christ  say  about 
them?  You  remember  His  reply,  when  those  in 
the  crowd  that  stood  near  to  Jesus  said  to  Him : 
"Master,  Thy  mother  and  Thy  brethren  stand 
without,  desiring  to  speak  to  Thee,"  He  stretched 
forth  His  hand  towards  His  disciples,  and  said: 
"Who  is  My  mother  and  who  are  My  brethren? 
Behold  My  mother  and  My  brethren:  for  who- 


48  UPB  TALKS. 

soever  shall  do  the  will  of  My  Father  who  is  in 
heaven,  the  same  is  My  brother,  and  sister,  and 
mother."  He  chose  the  tenderest,  the  most  beau- 
tiful relationships  on  earth,  and  said,  **The  man 
or  the  woman  who  has  come  into  this  blood-cov- 
enant relationship  with  me — who  has  given  up  his 
or  her  Hfe  to  do  the  will  of  my  Father  as  I  am 
doing  it  here  upon  earth — that  man,  that  woman, 
is  closer  to  me  than  my  own  flesh  and  blood  kin- 
dred." Ah,  how  blessed  is  the  relationship  He 
invites  you  and  me,  His  children,  to  enter  into 
with  Him  to-night !  How  precious,  how  dear  we 
are  to  Him  as  His  friends!  And  thus  let  us  re- 
member that  the  supreme  test  of  love  to  our 
Lord  is  not  our  emotional  life,  but  simply  this : 
"Ye  are  My  friends  if  ye  do  My  will."  It  matters 
not  how  prosaic  our  life  is;  it  matters  not  how 
matter-of-fact  men  and  women  we  are ;  it  matters 
not  that  we  are  not  having  the  wonderful  emo- 
tional experiences  other  people  may  have;  it 
matters  not  that  we  are  not  naturally  intense  or 
rapturous,  but  are  quiet,  even  phlegmatic,  in  our 
life  characteristics  and  temperament;  if  we  are 
daily  going  about  simply  doing  His  will,  Jesus 
Christ  says  this  is  the  high  and  supreme  test  of 
friendship  with  Him.  Yea,  the  test  of  love  to 
Him  is  to  lay  down  our  lives  to  do  His  will  and 
then — simply  to  do  it. 


The  God-Planned  Life. 


"Created  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works 

zvhich  God  hath  before  ordained,  that  zue 
should  walk  in  them."    Eph.  2 :  10. 

"Created  in  Christ  Jesus."  That  means  every 
child  of  God  is  a  new  creation  in  Christ  Jesus. 
'TJnto  good  works."  And  that  means  every  such 
child  of  God  is  created  anew  in  Christ  Jesus  for 
a  life  of  service.  "Which  God  hath  before  or- 
dained." That  means  God  has  laid  the  plan  for 
this  life  of  service  in  Christ  Jesus,  ages  before 
we  came  into  existence.  "That  we  should  walk 
in  them."  "Walk"  is  a  practical  word.  And 
that  means  God's  great  purpose  of  service  for 
the  lives  of  His  children  is  not  a  mere  fancy,  but 
a  practical  reality,  to  be  known  and  lived  out  in 
our  present,  work-a-day  life.  Therefore  all 
through  this  great  text  runs  the  one  supreme 
thought  that — 

*     *     *     * 
God  has  a  plan  for  every  life  in  Christ  Jesus. 

What  a  wondrous  truth  is  this!    And  yet  how 

reasonable  a  one.     Shall  the  architect  draw  the 

plans   for   his   stately  palace?     Shall   the   artist 

sketch   the   outlines  of   his   masterpiece?     Shall 

49 


so  LIPB  TALKS. 

;the  ship-builder  lay  clown  the  lines  for  his  colos- 
sal ship?  And  yet  shall  God  have  no  plan  for 
the  immortal  soul  which  He  brings  into  bjing 
and  puts  "'in  Christ  Jesus?"  Surely  he  has. 
Yea,  for  every  cloud  that  floats  across  the  sum- 
mer sky;  for  every  blade  of  grass  that  points 
its  tiny  spear  heavenward ;  for  every  dew-drop 
that  gleam^s  in  the  morning  sun;  for  every  beam 
of  light  that  shoots  across  the  limitless  space 
from  sun  to  earth,  God  has  a  purpose  and  a  plan. 
How  mAich  more  then,  for  you  who  are  His  own, 
in  Christ  Jesus,  does  God  have  a  perfect,  before- 
prepared  life  plan.    And  not  only  so,  but — 

^  ;ic  ^  ^ 

God  has  a  plan  for  your  life  zuhich  no  other  man 
can  fulfd. 

*'In  all  the  ages  of  the  ages  there  never  has 
been,  and  never  will  be  a  man,  or  woman  just 
like  me.  I  am  unique.  I  have  no  double."  That 
is  true.  No  two  leaves,  no  two  jewels,  no  tw^o 
stars,  no  two  lives — alike.  Ever}^  life  is  a  fresh 
thought  from  God  to  the  world.  There  is  no 
man  in  all  the  world  who  can  do  your  work  as 
well  as  you.  And  if  you  do  not  find,  and  enter 
into  Cod's  purpose  for  your  life,  there  will  be 
something  missing  from  the  glory  that  would 
otherwise  have  been  there.  Every  jewel  gleams 
with  its  own  radiance.  Every  flower  distils  its 
own  fragrance.  Every  Christian  has  his  own 
rnrticular  bit  of  Christ's  radiance  and  Christ's 


THE    GOD-PLANNED   LIFE.  5t 

fragrance  which  God  would  pass  through  him  to 
others.  Has  God  given  you  a  particular  person- 
ality ?  He  has  also  created  a  particular  circle  of 
individuals  who  can  be  reached  arid  touched  by 
that  personality  as  by  none  other  in  the  wide 
world.  xA.nd  then  he  shapes  and  orders  your 
life  so  as  to  bring  you  into  contact  with  that  very 
circle.  Just  a  hair's  breadth  of  shift  in  the  focus 
of  the  telescope,  and  some  man  sees  a  vision  of 
beauty  which  before  had  been  all  confused  and 
befogged.  So,  too,  just  that  grain  of  individual 
and  personal  variation  in  your  life  from  every 
other  man's  and  some  one  sees  Jesus  Christ  with 
a  clearness  and  beauty  he  would  discern  nowhere 
else.  What  a  privilege  to  have  one's  own  Christ 
in-dwelt  personality,  however  humble!  What  a 
joy  to  know  that  God  will  use  it,  as  He  uses 
no  other  for  certain  individuals  susceptible  to  it 
as  to  no  other!  In  you  there  is  just  a  bit  of 
change  in  the  angle  of  the  jewel — and  lo,  some 
man  sees  the  light!  In  you  there  is  just  a  trifle 
of  variation  in  the  mingling  of  the  spices — and, 
behold,  some  one  becomes  conscious  of  the  fra- 
grance of  Christ. 

•^  if.  ■:)>:.  -Jf. 

A   man   may  fail  to  enter  into   God's  plan  for 
his  life. 

Among  the  curiosities  of  a  little  fishing  village 
on   the  great   lakes   where  we   were   summering 


52  UPB  TALKS. 

was  a  pair  of  captive  eagles.  They  had  been 
captured  when  but  two  weeks  oM,  and  confined 
in  a  large  room-like  cage.  Year  after  year  the 
eaglets  grew,  iintil  they  were  magnificent  speci- 
mens of  their  kind,  stretching  six  feet  from  tip 
to  tip  of  wings.  One  summer  when  we  came 
back  for  our  usual  vacation  the  eagles  were  miss- 
ing. Inquiring  of  the  owner  as  to  their  disap- 
pearance this  story  came  to  us.  The  owner  had 
left  the  village  for  a  prolonged  fishing  trip  out 
in  the  lake.  While  he  was  absent  some  mischiev- 
ous boys  opened  the  door  of  the  cage,  and  gave 
the  great  birds  their  liberty.  At  once  they  en- 
deavored to  escape.  But  kept  in  captivity  from 
their  earliest  eaglet  days,  they  had  never  learned 
to  fly.  They  seemed  to  realize  that  God  had 
meant  them  to  be  more  than  mere  earthlings. 
After  all  these  weary  years  the  instinct  for  the 
sky  and  the  heavens  still  smoldered  in  their 
hearts.  And  most  desperately  did  they  strive  to 
exercise  it.  They  floundered  about  upon  the  vil- 
lage green.  They  struggled,  and  fell,  and  beat 
their  wings  in  piteous  effort  to  rise  into  the  airy 
freedom  of  their  God-appointed  destiny.  But 
all  in  vain.  One  of  them,  essaying  to  fly  across 
a  small  stream,  fell  helpless  into  the  water  and 
had  to  be  rescued  from  drowning.  The  other, 
after  a  succession  of  desperate  and  humiliating 
failures  managed  to  attain  to  the  lower-most  limb 
of  a  nearby  tree.  Thence  he  was  shot  to  death 
by  the  hand  of  a  cruel  boy.    His  mate  soon  shared 


THE   GOD-PLANNED   LIFE.  53 

the  same  hapless  fate.  And  the  simple  tragedy 
of  their  hampered  lives  came  to  an  end. 

Often  since  has  come  to  us  the  tragic  life-lesson 
of  the  imprisoned  eagles.  God  had  designed  for 
these  kingly  birds  a  noble  inheritance  of  freedom. 
It  was  theirs  to  pierce  in  royal  flight  the  very  eye 
of  the  mid-day  sun.  It  v^as  theirs  to  nest  in  lofty 
crags  where  never  foot  of  man  had  trod.  It  was 
theirs  to  breast  with  unwearying  pinion  the 
storms  and  tempests  of  mid-heaven.  A  princely 
heritage  indeed  was  theirs.  But  the  cruelty  of 
man  had  hopelessly  shut  them  out  from  it.  And 
instead  of  the  hmitless  liberty  planned  for  them 
had  come  captivity,  helplessness,  humiliation,  and 
death.  Even  these  birds  of  the  air  missed  God's 
great  plan  for  their  lives.  Much  more  may  the 
sons  of  men. 

Is  not  this  the  very  thing  of  which  Paul  speaks 
when  he  says :  "Work  out  your  salvation  with 
fear  and  trembling,  for  it  is  God  which  worketh 
in  you,  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleas- 
ure." What  are  these  inner  voices  which,  if  we 
heed  not,  cease?  What  are  these  visions  which, 
if  we  follow  not,  fade?  What  are  these  yearnings 
to  be  all  for  Christ  which,  if  we  embody  not  in 
action,  die?  What  are  they  but  the  living  God 
working  in  us  to  will  and  to  do  the  lifework  which 
he  has  planned  for  us  from  all  eternity?  And  it 
is  this  which  you  are  called  upon  to  "work  out." 
Work  it  out  in  love.  Work  it  out  in  daily,  faith- 
ful ministry.    Work  it  out  as  God's  works  in  you. 


54  LIFE  TALKS. 

But  more  than  that.  You  may  miss  it.  You  may 
fall  short  of  God's  perfect  plan  for  your  life. 
Therefore  work  it  out  with — fear  and  trembling! 
Searching  words  are  these.  Words  of  warning, 
words  of  tender  admonition.  That  blessed  life  of 
witnessing,  serving,  and  fruit-bearing  which  God 
has  planned  for  you  in  Christ  Jesus  from  all  eter- 
nity— work  it  out  with  trcmhling.  Trembling — - 
lest  the  god  of  this  world  blind  you  to  the  vision 
of  service  which  God  is  ever  holding  before  you. 
Trembling — lest  the  low  standard  of  life  in  fel- 
low-Christians about  you  lead  you  to  drop  3^ours 
to  a  like  grovelling  level.  Trembling — lest  some 
little  circle  in  the  dark  ends  of  the  earth  should 
fail  of  the  giving,  the  praying,  or  the  going  which 
God  has  long  since  planned  for  you.  Trembling 
— lest  the  voices  of  worldly  pleasure  and  ambition 
dull  and  deafen  your  ears  to  the  one  voice  v/hich 
is  ever  whispering — follow  thou  Ale :  follow  thou 
Me." 

:ji         ^;         ^         >}t 

One  way  of  missing  God's  calling  may  be  by 
''choosing"  our  cmm  calling. 

Every  day  men  talk  of  ''choosing"  a  calling. 
But  is  not  the  phrase  a  sheer  mJsnomer?  For 
how  can  a  man  "choose"  a  "calling"?  If  a  man 
is  called  lie  does  not  choose.  It  is  the  one  who 
calls  who  does  the  choosing.  "Ye  have  not 
chosen  Me,  but  /  have  chosen  you  and  ordained 
you  that  ye  should  go  and  bear  fruit,"  says  our 


111b    L,UL)-l'LA.\.\UlJ    Lll'l:.  55 

Lord.  Men  act  as  though  God  threw  down  be- 
fore them  an  assortment  of  plans  from  which 
they  might  choose  what  pleases  them,  even  as 
a  shop-keeper  tosses  out  a  dozen  skeins  of  silk  to 
a  lady  buyer  from  which  she  might  select  that 
which  strikes  her  fancy.  But  it  is  not  true.  It 
is  God's  to  choose.  It  is  ours  simply  to  ascer- 
tain and  obey.  For  next  in  its  eternal  moment  to 
the  salvation  of  the  soul  is  the  guidance  of  the 
life  of  a  child  of  God.  And  God  claims  both  as 
His  supreme  prerogative.  The  man  who  trusts 
God  with  one,  but  wrests  from  Him  the  other,  is 
making  a  fatal  mistake.  Would  we  were  taught 
this  ere  our  unskilled  hand  had  time  to  mar  the 
plan!  In  default  of  such  teaching  let  us  con- 
fess with  humbled  hearts  the  mistakes  we  have 
made  here,  in  the  frailty  of  our  mere  human 
judgment.  Young  friend  are  you  standing  in  that 
trying  place  where  men  are  pressing  you  to 
"choose"  a  calling?  Are  you  about  to  cast  the 
die  of  a  self -chosen  life  work?  Do  not  cast  it. 
Do  not  try  to  choose.  Does  not  the  text  say  we 
are  "created  in  Christ  unto  good  works?"  If 
the  plan  is  in  Christ  how  will  you  find  it  unless 
you  go  to  Christ?  Therefore  go  to  God  simply, 
trustfully,  prayerfully  and  ask  Him  to  show  you 
what  He  has  chosen  for  you  from  all  eternity. 
And  as  you  walk  in  the  daily  light  which  He 
sheds  upon  your  path  He  will  surely  lead  you 
into  His  appointed  life-plan.  So  shall  vou  be 
saved   the    sorrow,    disappointment,    and    failure 


S6  LIFB  TALKS. 

which  follow  in  the  Vv^ake  of  him  who  "chooses" 
his  own  path,  and,  all  too  late,  comes  to  himself 
to  find  out  that  it  pays  to  trust  God  in  this  great 
concern  of  his  life,  even  as  in  all  others. 

Therefore  we  must  needs  admonish  one  anoth- 
er that  a  man  may  miss  God's  plan  for  his  life. 
He  may  miss  it  by  his  own  blindness,  wilfulness, 
disobedience,  or  self-choosing.  But  we  pass  on 
now  to  the  more  blessed  truth,  that — 


Every  child  of  God  can  find,  and  enter  into 
God's  plan  for  his  life. 

You  remember  the  story  of  the  engineer  of  the 
Brooklyn  bridge.  During  its  building  he  was  in- 
jured. For  many  long  months  he  was  shut  up 
in  his  room.  His  gifted  wife  shared  his  toils,  and 
carried  his  plans  to  the  workmen.  At  last  the 
great  bridge  was  completed.  Then  the  invalid 
architect  asked  to  see  it.  They  put  him  upon 
a  cot,  and  carried  him  to  the  bridge.  They  placed 
him  where  he  could  see  the  magnificent  structure 
in  all  its  beauty.  There  he  lay,  in  his  helpless- 
ness, intently  scanning  the  work  of  his  genius.  He 
marked  the  great  cables,  the  massive  piers,  the 
mighty  anchorages  which  fettered  it  to  the  earth. 
His  critical  eye  ran  over  every  beam,  every  girder, 
every  chord,  every  rod.  He  noted  every  detail 
carried  out  precisely  as  he  had  dreamed  it  in  his 
dreams,  and  wrought  it  out  in  his  plans  and  speci- 
fications.    And  then  as  the  joy  of  achievement 


THU    GOD-PLANNED    LIFE.  57 

filled  his  soul,  as  he  saw  and  realized  that  it  was 
finished  exactly  as  he  had  designed  it;  in  an  ec- 
stasy of  delight  he  cried  out:  "It's  just  like  the 
plan;  it's  just  like  the  plan!" 

Some  day  we  shall  stand  in  the  glory  and  look- 
ing up  into  His  face,  cry  out:  "O  God  I  thank 
Thee  that  thou,  did^-t  turn  me  aside  from  my 
wilful  and  perverse  way,  to  Thy  loving  and  per- 
fect one.  I  thank  Thee  that  Thou  didst  ever  lead 
me  to  yield  my  humble  life  to  Thee.  I  thank  Thee 
that  as  I  day  by  day,  walked  the  simple  pathway 
of  service.  Thou  didst  let  me  gather  up  one  by  one 
the  golden  threads  of  Thy  great  purpose  for  my 
life.  I  thank  Thee,  as,  like  a  tiny  trail  creeping  its 
way  up  some  great  mountain  side,  that  pathway 
of  life  has  gone  on  in  darkness  and  light,  storm 
and  shadow,  weakness  and  tears,  failures  and  fal- 
terings.  Thou  hast  at  last  brought  me  to  its  des- 
tined end.  And  now  that  I  see  my  finished  life, 
no  longer  'through  a  glass  darkly'  but  in  the  face 
to  face  splendor  of  Thine  own  glory,  I  thank 
Thee,  O  God,  I  thank  Thee  that,  it's  just  like  the 
plan;  it's  just  like  the  plan!" 

Then,  too,  while  we  do  need  to  walk  carefully 
and  earnestly  that  we  miss  not  God's  great  will 
for  us,  yet  let  us  not  be  anxious  lest,  because 
we  are  so  human,  so  frail,  so  fallible,  we  may 
make  some  mistakes  in  the  details  and  specifica- 
tions of  that  plan.  For  we  will  do  well  to  re- 
member this.  God  has  a  beautiful  way  of  over- 
ruling  mistakes   when   the   heart   is   right   with 


S8  LWn  TALKS. 

Him.  That  is  the  supreme  essential.  The  one 
attitude  of  ours  which  can  mar  his  purpose  of 
love  for  our  lives  is  the  refusal  to  yield  that  life 
and  will  to  His  own  great  will  of  love  for  it.  But 
vv^hen  that  life  is  honestly  yielded,  then  the  mis- 
takes in  the  pathway  which  spring  from  our  own 
human  infirmities  and  fallibleness  will  be  sweetly 
and  blessedly  corrected  by  God,  as  we  move  along 
that  path.  It  is  like  guiding  a  ship.  Our  trem- 
bling hand  upon  the  wheel  may  cause  trifling 
wanderings  from  her  course.  But  they  seem 
greater  to  us  than  they  are  in  reality.  And  if  we 
but  hold  our  craft  steadily  to  the  pole-star  of 
God's  will,  as  best  we  know  it,  she  will  reach  her 
destined  port  Vv'ith  certainty,  notwithstanding  the 
sw^ervings  that  have  befallen  her  in  the  progress 
of  her  voyage. 

>i<         ^:         *         =K 

But  now  we  come  face  to  face  v/ith  a  question 
of  supreme  importance.  And  that  is  this :  "How 
shall  I  ascertain  God's  plan  for  my  life?  How 
shall  I  be  safe-guarded  from  error?  How  shall 
I  discern  the  guidance  of  God  from  the  mis- 
guidance of  my  own  fleshly  desires  and  ambi- 
tions? How  shall  I  find  the  path  in  which  He 
is  calhng  me  to  walk?    We  answer,  first: 


Believe. 

The  trouble  with  most  of  us  is  that  we  do  not 
believe  God  has  such  a  life-plan   for  us.     We 


TUB   GOD-PLANNBD   LIFE.  59 

take  our  own  way,  we  lay  our  own  plans,  we 
choose  our  own  profession,  we  decide  upon  our 
own  business  without  taking  God  into  account  at 
all.  "According  to  our  faith  is  it  unto  us."  And 
if  we  have  no  faith  in  God's  word  in  this  regard, 
what  else  can  we  expect  but  to  miss  God's  way 
for  our  lives,  and  only  come  back  to  it  after  long 
and  costly  wanderings  from  His  blessed,  chosen 
pathway  for  us  ?  Ephesians  2 :  lO,  is  as  surely 
inspired  as  Ephesians  2  :  8.  The  promise  of  a  life- 
plan  is  as  explicit  in  the  one,  as  the  promise  of 
salvation  is  in  the  other.  Brood  over  this  Ephe- 
sian  verse.  Is  it  plain  ?  Is  it  God's  word  ?  Does 
it  not  say  clearly  that  God  has  a  life-plan  for 
you  in  Christ  Jesus?  Then  settle  down  upon  it. 
Believe  it  with  all  your  whole  soul.  Do  not  be 
shaken  from  it.    Again — 


Pray  . 

Dr.  Henry  Foster,  founder  of  the  Clifton 
Springs  sanitarium,  was  a  man  of  marvelous 
power  with  God.  A  man,  too,  of  great  insight 
into  the  mind  and  ways  of  God  in  the  matter  of 
guidance  in  the  affairs  of  life.  What  was  the 
secret  of  that  wondrous  power  and  wisdom? 
Visitors  were  wont  to  ask  this  question  of  one 
of  the  older  physicians  on  the  staff  of  that  great 
institution.  And  this  was  his  response.  He  took 
the  visitor  by  the  arm.  He  led  him  up-stairs  to 
the  door  of  Dr.  Foster's  office.    He  led  him  into 


6o  LIFE  TALKS. 

this  little  chamber,  across  the  corner  of  the  room. 
There,  kneehng,  he  lifted  up  the  border  of  a  rug 
and  shovN^ed  to  the  visitor  two  ragged  holes  in  the 
carpet,  worn  there  by  the  knees  of  God's  saint 
in  his  life  of  prayer.  "That,  sir,  was  the  secret 
of  Henry  Foster's  power  and  wisdom  in  the  things 
of  God  and  men." 

Friend,  when  your  bed-room  carpet  begins  to 
wear  out  after  that  fashion,  the  man  who  lives  in 
that  room  need  not  have  any  fear  about  missing 
God's  life  plan.  For  that  is  the  open  secret  of  wis- 
dom, and  guidance  in  the  life  of  every  man  who 
knows  anything  about  walking  with  God.  "Does 
any  man  lack  wisdom?  Let  him  ask  of  God." 
Are  you  one  of  the  men  who  lack  wisdom  concern- 
ing God's  plan  for  their  lives?  Then  ask  of  God. 
Pray!  Pray  trustfully,  pray  steadily,  pray  ex- 
pectantly, and  God  will  certainly  guide  you  into 
that  blessed  place  where  you  will  be  as  sure  you 
are  in  His  chosen  pathway,  as  you  are  of  your 

salvation. 

*     ^     *     * 

Will 

Will  what?  Will  to  do  God's  will  for  your 
life,  instead  of  your  own.  Do  not  launch  out 
upon  the  sea  of  life  headed  for  a  port  of  your 
own  choosing,  guided  by  a  chart  of  your  own 
draughting,  driven  by  the  power  of  your  own 
selfish  pleasures  or  ambitions.  Come  to  God. 
Yield  your  life  to  Him  by  one  act  of  trustful, 


7HE    GOD-PLANXliD    Lll'li.  6i 

irrevocable  surrender.  And  then  begin  to  choose 
and  to  do  His  will  for  your  life  instead  of  your 
own.  So  shall  you  come  steadily  to  know  and  see 
God's  will  for  that  life.  Our  Lord  Jesus  clearly 
says  this :  "If  any  man  will  to  do  my  will  he  shall 
know!'  Without  a  shadow  of  doubt,  we  will 
begin  to  know  God's  will,  as  soon  as  we  begin  to 
choose  His  will  for  our  lives  instead  of  our  own. 

Thus  the  spiritual  field-glasses  through  which 
we  come  to  see  God's  will  for  our  lives  are  dou- 
ble-barreled. Side  by  side  are  two  lenses.  The 
one— "I  trust."  The  other— "I  will."  When  a 
man  can  hold  both  of  these  to  his  eyes  he  will 
see  God's  will  with  unclouded  clearness.  But 
suppose  a  man  says  to  God  "I  doubt."  Then  a 
veil  falls  over  that  lens  of  faith.  And  suppose 
he  says,  *'I  will  not."  Then  the  veil  falls  over 
the  other,  the  lens  of  the  will,  of  choice.  Straight- 
way that  man's  spiritual  vision  is  in  eclipse.  He 
walks  in  a  darkness  of  his  own  making,  springing 
from  his  own  un faith  and  self-will,  yet  the  source 
and  cause  of  which  he,  in  his  blindness,  wholly 
fails  to  perceive. 

Friend,  are  you  walking  in  such  darkness? 
Do  you  say,  "there  is  such  a  veil  between  you  and 
the  will  of  God  for  your  Hfe?  Listen.  Begin  to 
believe  in  God's  plan  for  your  life.  That  veil 
will  become  translucent.  Begin  to  unll  to  do 
God's  will.  That  veil  will  become  transparent. 
Begin  day  by  day,  actually  to  do  God's  will. 
That  veil  will  vanish !    And  when  it  is  gone,  and 


62  LIFB  TALKS. 

you  are  walking  in  the  full  light  of  God's  will 
for  your  life  you  will  see  that  it  was  self-will 
alone  which  shut  out  the  clear  vision  of  God's 
will.  For  no  man  can  see  the  will  of  God  save 
through  these  two  crystal  lenses — the  trustful 
heart,  and  the  yielded  will. 

Does  some  one  say  at  this  point :  *'But  suppose 
I  have  given  my  life  to  God  to  enter  into  His 
will  for  it.  What  change  shall  I  make  in  it^ 
Shall  I  seek  a  nev/  environment,  a  new  sphere? 
What  shall  I  do  ?    We  answer — 

^     -^     -^     ^ 
Stay  zi/here  you  are,  and  do  the  next  thing. 

Talk  God's  plan,  and  consecration  to  it,  to 
Christian  men  and  straightway  many  of  them 
think  you  mean  them. to  give  up  their  business 
and  head  at  once  for  the  pulpit  or  the  foreign 
missionary  field.  To  come  into  God's  life-plan 
is  to  go  into  some  other  placey  as  they  view  it. 
But  there  never  was  a  greater  mistake.  Conse- 
cration is  not  necessarily  dis-\oc2Ltion.  Not  by 
any  means.  God's  plan  for  a  man's  life  does 
not  of  necessity  lift  him  out  from  his  present 
realm  of  life  and  surroundings.  It  is  not  a  new 
sphere  God  is  seeking.  It  is  a  new  man  in  the 
present  sphere!  It  is  not  transference.  It  is 
transformation.  The  trouble  is  not  usually  with 
the  place.  It  is  with  the  man  in  the  place.  And 
when  a  man  consecrates  his  life  to  God  to  find 


and  enter  into  God's  perfect  plan  for  that  life, 
God  will  usually  keep  him  riglu  where  he  is,  but 
living  for  God  and  His  kingdom  instead  of  liv- 
ing for  self.  So,  until  God  shows  you  differently, 
stay  where  you  are,  and  live  for  God. 


//  God  zi'oiifs  you  clscivhcrc  He  itnll  lead  you 
there:  be  sure  to  follow. 

We  have  seen  that  consecration  is  not  neces- 
sarily dis-location.  Yet  it  may  be.  That  God 
usually  keeps  a  man  where  he  is,  when  he 
yields  his  life  to  Him.  Yet  viot  ahvays.  God 
may  lift  you  clear  out  from  the  sphere  in  which 
you  are  moving.  God  may  completely  change 
your  environment,  as  well  as  cliange  you.  God 
may  take  you  out  of  3'Our  business  or  pro- 
fession, and  send  you  to  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth  as  a  chosen  messenger  of  His. 
**But  how  will  this  come  about,"  do  you  say? 
As  you  do  the  next  tiling.  For  God's  plan 
for  your  life  will  not  burst  from  the  heavens  in 
one  splendid  panoramic  vision  of  his  purpose  for 
it.  Rather  it  comes  day  by  day  to  the  man  who 
faithfully  does  the  thing  next  at  hand.  God's 
searchlight  falls  upon  only  one  bend  in  the  river 
at  a  time.  Round  that  and  you  will  have  light 
upon  the  next.  The  golden  chain  of  God's  great 
purpose  for  your  life  and  mine  is  woven  of  the 
single  links  which  we  lay  hold  of,  one  at  a  time, 
along  the  pathway  of  daily  opportunity.     By  and 


64  UFB  TALKS. 

by,  when  we  have  gathered  enough  Hnks,  the 
chain  begins  to  appear.  The  man  who  faithfully 
picks  up  the  links  need  never  fear  about  missing 
the  chain.  Therefore  do  the  next  thing.  As  you 
do  it  then  this  thread  of  daily  service  becomes 
in  God's  hands,  like  the  clew  to  a  maze.  By  it 
God  leads  you  on  and  on  in  your  pathway  until 
you  are  out  from  all  the  labyrinth  of  darkness 
and  uncertainty,  into  the  clear  shining  of  His 
will  for  your  life.  Therefore  do  the  next  thing 
patiently,  faithfully,  lovingly.  Teach  the  class, 
visit  the  sick,  comfort  the  sorrowing,  preach  the 
Word,  use  the  tract  and  leaflet,  witness  for  Him 
just  where  you  are.  And  as  you  thus  serve  if 
God  wants  you  elsewhere  he  will  surely  lead  you 
there.  Only  do  you  he  sure  to  follozu.  And  thus 
following  some  of  us  will  land  in  China,  India, 
Africa.  And  some  of  us  will  abide  just  where 
we  are.  But  all  of  us  will  be  where  He  wants 
us.    And  that  is,  in  the  plan. 

"Ah,"  says  some  one,  "this  is  all  very  well  for 
the  young,  and  the  strong  who  have  all  of  life 
before  them.  But  it  is  too  late  for  me.  My 
life  has  been  full  of  blunders  and  failures.  It 
is  only  after  years  of  wandering  that  I  have  come 
to  Christ.  There  is  naught  left  for  me  but  the 
memory  of  mistakes,  and  the  fragments  of  a 
vanished  and  broken  life."  Listen,  friend,  to  this 
truth,  as  we  part  to-night: 


THE    GOD-PLANNED   LIFE.  65 

God  is  the  only  one  who  can  take  a  seemingly 

shattered  life  and  make  a  beautiful  life 

from  the  fragments. 

jHave  you  ever  heard  this  story?  In  a  cer- 
tain old  town  was  a  great  cathedral.  And  in 
that  cathedral  was  a  wondrous  stained  glass 
window.  Its  fame  had  gone  abroad  over  the 
land.  From  miles  around  people  pilgrimaged  to 
gaze  upon  the  splendor  of  this  masterpiece  of  art. 
One  day  there  came  a  great  storm.  The  vio- 
lence of  the  tempest  forced  in  the  window,  and  it 
crashed  to  the  marble  floor,  shattered  into  a  hun- 
dred pieces.  Great  was  the  grief  of  the  people 
at  the  catastrophe  which  had  suddenly  bereft  the 
town  of  its  proudest  work  of  art.  They  gathered 
up  the  fragments,  huddled  them  in  a  box,  and 
carried  them  to  the  cellar  of  the  church.  One 
day  there  came  along  a  stranger,  and  craved  per- 
mission to  see  the  beautiful  window.  They  told 
him  of  its  fate.  He  asked  what  they  had  done 
with  the  fragments.  And  they  took  him  to  the 
vault  and  showed  him  the  broken  morsels  of 
glass.  "Would  you  mind  giving  these  to  me?" 
said  the  stranger.  **Take  them  along."  was  the 
reply,  "they  are  no  longer  of  any  use  to  us." 
And  the  visitor  carefully  lifted  the  box  and  car- 
ried it  away  in  his  arms.  Weeks  passed  by ;  then 
one  day  there  came  an  invitation  to  the  custo- 
dians of  the  cathedral.  It  was  from  a  famous 
artist,  noted   for  his  master-skill   in  glass-craft. 


66  LIFE  TALKS. 

It  summoned  them  to  his  study  to  inspect  a 
stained  glass  window,  the  work  of  his  genius. 
Ushering  them  into  his  studio  he  stood  them 
before  a  great  veil  of  canvass.  At  the  touch  of 
his  hand  upon  a  cord  the  canvass  dropped.  And 
there  before  their  astonished  gaze  shone  a  stained 
glass  window  surpassing  in  beauty  all  their  eyes 
had  ever  beheld.  As  they  gazed  entranced  upon 
its  rich  tints,  wondrous  pattern,  and  cunning 
workmanship,  the  artist  turned  and  said:  ''This 
window  I  have  wrought  from  the  fragments  of 
your  shattered  one,  and  it  is  nov/  ready  to  be  re- 
placed." Once  more  a  great  window  shed  its 
beauteous  light  into  the  dim  aisles  of  the  old 
cathedral.  But  the  splendor  of  the  new  far  sur- 
passed the  glory  of  the  old,  and  the  fame  of  its 
strange  fashioning  filled  the  land. 

Reader,  do  you  say  that  your  plans  have  been 
crushed?  Thank  God  and  take  heart.  Have 
you  not  long  since  learned  that  the  best  place 
for  many  of  your  plans  is  the  trash  pile?  And 
that  often  you  must  fling  them  there  before  your 
blinded  eyes  can  see  God's  own,  better  plan  for 
your  life?  And  how  is  it  with  your  life?  Has 
sin  blighted  it?  Have  the  mistakes  of  early 
years  seemingly  wrecked  it?  Have  joy  and 
sweetness  vanished  from  it?  Does  there  seem 
nought  left  for  you  but  to  walk  its  weary  tread- 
mill until  its  days  of  darkness  and  drudgery  shall 
end?  Then  know  this.  Jesus  Christ  is  a  match- 
less life-mender.     Try  Him.     He  will  take  that 


THli    GOD-PLANNED    LIFE.  67 

seemingly  shattered  life  and  fashion  a  far  more 
beautiful  one  from  its  fragments  than  you  your- 
self could  ever  have  wrought  from  the  whole. 
In  Him  your  weary  soul  shall  find  its  longed-for 
rest.  And  the  fragments  that  remain  of  God's 
heritage  of  life  to  you  shall  mean  in  gladsome 
days  to  come,  more  than  all  the  vanished  years 
that  are  crooning  their  sad  lament  in  your  inner- 
most soul  to-night. 


Why  do  I  drift  on  a  pathless  sea, 
With  neither  compass,  nor  star,  nor  chart, 
When,  as  I  drift,  God's  own  plan  for  me, 
Waits  at  the  door  of  my  slow-trusting  heart? 

Down  from  the  heavens  it  drops^  like  a  scroll, 
Each  day  a  bit  will  my  Lord  unroll, 
Each  day  a  mite  of  the  veil  will  uplift ; 
Why  should  I  stray?    Why  falter  and  drift? 

Drifting — when  God'^  at  the  helm  to  steer ; 
Drifting — when  God  lays  the  course  so  clear : 
Drifting — when  straight  into  port  I  might  sail ; 
Drifting — when  heaven  lies  just  within  hail. 

Help  me,  my  God,  in  the  plan  to  believe ; 

Help  me  my  fragment  each  day  to  receive. 

Oh,  that  my  will  may  with  Thine  have  no  strife! 

For  the  God-yielded  will  finds  the  God-planned  life. 


Believing  is  Seeing. 


''Said  I  not  unto  thee,  that  if  thou  wouldst  be- 
lieve, thou  shouldst  see  the  glory  of  God?"  (Jno. 
11:40.) 

The  world  says  seeing  is  believing.  Jesus 
Christ  says  believing  is  seeing.  The  world's 
maxim  is  familiar  enough.  The  man  who  sees 
believes.  We  come  into  knowledge  through  the 
channel  of  vision.  We  know  the  sky,  the  stars, 
the  clouds,  the  sea,  because  we  see  them  with  our 
very  eyes.  Yet  just  as  real,  and  quite  as  sim- 
ple, is  the  truth  that  the  man  who  believes  shall 
see.  Faith  ever  issues  into  vision.  The  man 
who  trusts  shall  know.  The  believer  becomes  a 
seer.    And  note  first  here,  that — 


The  faith  which  takes  God's  word  shall  see. 

We  remember  one  year  in  our  boyhood  when 
the  Christmas  tide  had  come.  Some  one  must 
needs  play  Santa  Claus  for  the  children,  and  the 
lot  fell  upon  us.  Our  stripling  figure  was  filled 
out  to  the  proper  Santa  Claus  rotundness  by  a 
convenient  cushion.  Our  pockets  were  stuffed 
to  the  full  with  the  various  giftj  of  love.  And 
we  went  about  the  ministry  of  distribution. 
68 


BELIEVING  IS  SEEING.  69 

From  one  to  another  the  packets  were  passed 
until,  as  we  thought,  all  had  been  parcelled  out. 
Then  came  a  request  from  one  of  the  family 
circle:  "Put  your  hand  in  your  right  pocket. 
There  is  something  there  for  you."  But  we 
shook  our  head  skeptically.  Did  not  we  know 
all  the  gifts  that  had  been  stowed  in  those  pock- 
ets? And  did  not  we  know  there  was  nothing 
else  there?  But  again  came  the  word  of  re- 
quest. And  still  we  shook  our  head  in  decided 
negative.  At  last  more  urgently,  ''Well,  put  your 
hand  in  the  pocket,  and  try.  Believe  ana  you 
will  see."  And  then,  to  satisfy  a  loved  one,  the 
hand  was  slipped  into  the  designated  pocket. 
And,  lo,  out  came  a  parcel,  marked  with  our 
own  name.  Within  was  a  beautiful  gold  watch, 
the  gift  of  a  loving  father  to  his  boy.  It  had 
been  slipped  into  the  pocket  all  unknown  to  us. 
If  we  had  not  believed  we  never  would  have  seen. 
But  when  we  believed  we  saw.  When  we  be- 
lieved— came  realization.  When  we  believed — 
came  the  joy  of  possession. 

Unsaved  friend,  it  is  right  here  that  you  are 
making  a  fatal  mistake,  a  mistake  which  will 
work  your  eternal  undoing.  You  say  you  will 
not  believe  until  you  see.  You  must  have  some 
experience  of  Christ  before  you  will  believe  in 
Christ.  But  know  this.  You  will  have  a  definite 
experience  of  Christ  just  as  soon  as  you  exer- 
cise a  definite  faith  in  Christ.  And  you  will 
never  have  it   before.     When   vou  believe  the 


70  LIFU  TALKS. 

light  will  come.     When  you  believe  the  peace, 

the  joy,  the  assurance  will  come.    Like  Paul  you 

will  "know  Vv^hom  you  have  believed."     But  that 

means  you   will  never  know  until  you  believe. 

Believing  will  surely  bring  you  to  seeing.     But 

all  the  seeing  in  tJie  zvorld  zvill  never  bring  you 

to  believing.      Have  a  definite  transaction  zvith 

Jesus    Christ.      Definitely   accept    Him   as   your 

Saviour.     Definitely  confess  Him  before  men  as 

such.     And  as  surely  as  you  do  this  you   will 

definitely  know  the  salvation  of  God  in  Christ, 

Believe  and  you  shall  see. 

*     *     *     * 

The  faith  which  prays  shall  see. 

You  have  been  praying  for  showers  of  bless- 
ing, and  not  even  a  drop  has  fallen.  You  have 
been  praying  for  some  barrier  to  melt  away,  and 
it  seems  to  have  grown  even  greater.  You  have 
been  crying  to  God  for  a  flood  of  light  upon  your 
darkened  path,  and  not  a  single  gleam  has  yet 
shone.  Do  not  lose  heart.  Do  not  faint  by  the 
way.  For  the  faith  which  prays  shall  see.  Peti- 
tion shall  end  in  vision.  The  cry  of  intercession 
shall  give  place  to  the  song  of  thanksgiving. 

A  young  man  left  a  New  England  city  to  go 
as  a  missionary.  Time  passed.  One  night  his 
pastor  in  the  homeland  was  awakened  in  the 
dead  of  night  beset  with  the  fear  that  his  young 
parishioner  was  in  peril.  A  great  burden  of 
prayer  was  rolled  upon  him.    He  arose  and  gave 


BELIEVING  IS  SEEING.  71 

himself  for  hours  to  earnest  intercession  for  the 
safety  of  his  friend.  At  that  very  time  this  was 
happening  in  the  heart  of  Africa:  The  mission- 
ary, accompanied  by  a  native,  had  started  out 
to  hunt.  As  they  journeyed  they  ran  upon  two 
Hons  and  a  lioness.  The  missionary  fired,  kill- 
ing one  of  the  lions,  and  wounding  the  other. 
The  lioness  seemingly  fled.  In  fact  she  had  only 
hidden  in  the  jungle.  The  missionary  now  ad- 
vanced and  fired  again  upon  the  wounded  lion. 
The  rifle  had  scarcely  cracked  when  the  great 
brute  lioness  leaped  upon  him  from  her  ambush. 
With  one  blow  she  struck  him  to  the  ground. 
In  an  instant  her  teeth  were  sunk  in  his  arm 
and  her  claws  tearing  fiercely  at  his  shoulder. 
He  cried  out  to  the  native  to  shoot,  but  the  latter 
could  not,  as  the  missionary  was  between  him 
and  the  lioness.  In  his  panic,  however,  the  na- 
tive fired  his  rifle  in  the  air.  At  once  the  lioness 
looked  up.  She  dropped  the  missionary  from 
her  jaw\s.  He  rolled  over  into  the  bottom  of  a 
shallow  ditch.  And  then  instead  of  leaping  upon 
him  and  finishing  her  work,  the  lioness  turned 
and  trotted  into  the  jungle.  The  bleeding  mis- 
sionary was  helped  into  camp.  There,  after  six 
weeks,  he  recovered  completely  from  an  experi- 
ence which  it  is  given  to  but  few  men  to  pass 
through.  God  had  indeed  "stopped  the  mouths 
of  lions"  for  him.  The  tidings  of  his  wonderful 
escape  went  back  home  to  his  faithful  pastor. 
And  he  who  had  prayed  now  saw.    He  saw  the 


72  LIFE  TALKS. 

peril  which  had  menaced  his  friend.  He  saw 
why  God  had  aroused  him  at  midnight  to  pray. 
He  saw  the  miraculous  deliverance  which  had 
come  to  pass.  Because  he  prayed,  and  prayed  in 
faith,  he  saw  the  glory  of  God  in  wondrous  an- 
swer.   And  so  may  you — if  you  pray  likewise. 

Abraham  prayed  and  saw  God  meet  his  peti- 
tion again  and  again  for  wicked  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah.  Moses  prayed  and  saw  God  answer 
for  disobedient  Israel.  Hezekiah  prayed  and  saw 
the  utter  rout  of  the  Syrian  host.  Jesus  prayed 
and  the  wondering  people  saw  Lazarus  break 
forth  from  the  gloom  of  the  grave.  The  church 
prayed  and  Peter  saw  the  glory  of  the  Lord  and 
the  opening  gates  of  prison  cell  and  ward. 

Wherefore  though  no  man's — hand — cloud  of 
promise  has  yet  risen  upon  your  horizon — pray, 
and  you  shall  see.  Though  as  yet  no  drops  from 
the  coming  down-pour  fall  upon  your  upturned 
face  of  intercession — pray  and  you  shall  see. 
Though  the  granite  barrier  against  which  you 
are  hurling  your  prayer  of  faith  has  not  budged 
one  hair's  breadth — pray,  and  you  shall  see. 
Though  the  stubborn  heart  fot  which  you  cry 
unto  God  in  the  dark  hours  of  the  night  does  not 
seem  to  abate  one  atom  of  its  hardness — pray,, 
and  you  shall  see.  For  the  faith  which  prays, 
and  prays,  and  prays,  shall  surely  see.  The 
prayer  which  is  in  the  will  of  God  shall  surely 
see  the  glory  of  God. 


BnunviNG  IS  SIIBING.  n 

The  faith  zi'hich  yields  shall  see. 

God  is  not  satisfied  with  taking  your  si:irit 
into  heaven.  He  wants  to  use  your  Hfe  here 
upon  earth.  And  so  you  have  come  to  another 
step  of  faith — the  faith  which  yields.  You  have 
come  face  to  face  with  a  decision  which,  ne>  t 
to  acceptance  of  Christ  as  your  Saviour,  is  the 
most  momentous  a  man  can  ever  make — the  de- 
cision to  consecrate  your  Hfe  to  God.  And  you 
shrink  back.  You  are  sore  afraid.  You  do  no! 
see  all  that  consecration  means.  You  do  not  see 
how  God  can  make  use  of  your  modest  talents. 
You  do  not  see  how  He  can  adjust  your  strait- 
ened and  hedged  pathway  to  a  life  of  devotion  to 
His  will.  To  all  this  God  has  but  one  answer. 
Believe  and  you  shall  see.  For  in  your  life  you 
will  see  the  glory  of  God  whenever,  as  best  you 
know,  you  place  that  life  in  the  will  of  God. 

Here  is  a  plain  strip  of  canvass.  Before  it 
stands  the  master  painter.  He  says,  "Do  you 
see  that  golden  sunset?  Trust  yourself  to  me 
and  I  will  paint  its  glory  in  your  face."  And 
the  canvass  says,  "I  am  coarse  in  texture.  I  am 
'^cant  in  size.  I  do  not  see  how  you  can  fill  me 
with  the  glory  of  that  sunset  sky."  And  the 
master  says,  "Yield,  and  you  shall  see." 

Here  is  a  black  mass  of  ore,  fresh-dug  from 
ilie  grime  of  the  earth.  It  is  soiled,  stained,  and 
!^iis-shapen.  The  master  workman  takes  it  in 
h.is   hand.      "There   is   naught  in   me   for  you," 


74  UFB  TALKS. 

says  the  ore.  And  the  goldsmith  says,  *'I  will 
take  you,  and  melt  you,  and  mold,  and  carve, 
and  chase  you,  until  there  shall  be  wrought  from 
your  blackness  a  precious  cup  of  gold  fit  to 
grace  the  feast-day  of  a  king."  "Yield  and  you 
shall  see." 

And  here  is  a  plain,  every-day  life — your  life, 
my  friend.  And  the  Master  stands  before  it, 
and  speaks,  "Give  me  your  life.  It  matters  not 
how  humble  it  is,  give  it  to  me.  And  I  will  chas- 
ten it,  and  enrich  it,  and  anoint  it  with  my  Spirit, 
and  glorify  My  Father  in  heaven  through  it.'* 
And  you  are  saying,  ''I  do  not  see  all  that  con- 
secration means.  I  do  not  ste  any  niche  of 
Christian  service  into  which  I  can  fit."  And  to 
all  this  the  Master  of  our  lives  has  still  the  same 
answer,  "Yield — and  you  shall  see" 

A  man  stepped  up  to  us  one  day  at  the  cl«se 
of  a  meeting,  and  said,  "I  want  to  tell  you  a 
story.  Years  ago  I  was  teaching  a  class  of  boys 
in  a  certain  city.  There  were  eight  boys  in  the 
class.  It  was  in  the  days  before  the  lesson  helps 
were  so  plentiful  as  now,  and  we  were  confined  to 
the  use  of  the  Bible  alone.  There  was  but 
one  Bible  for  the  whole  class.  This  was  passed 
from  hand  to  hand  in  due  order.  I  noticed  es- 
pecially how  the  second  boy  in  the  class  acted 
when  the  book  reached  him  in  turn.  He  fum- 
bled at  the  leaves.  He  hesitated  and  halted  at 
words  of  but  ordinary  difficulty.  The  big  words 
he  skipped  entirely.     Yet  he  was  most  faithful 


BELIBVIXG  IS  SEEING.  75 

and  persistent  in  it  all.  My  brother,"  said  the 
speaker,  ''that  boy  was  Dwight  L.  Moody." 

Dwight  Moody  might  have  deemed  his  talents 
too  modest  for  God  to  use.  He  might  have 
thought  it  useless  to  yield  them  to  Him.  He 
might  have  decided  to  lay  them  up  in  the  nap- 
kin. But  he  did  nothing  of  the  kind.  He  yield- 
ed his  all  to  God,  as  it  was.  He  trusted.  He 
followed  on.  And  the  world  has  not  yet  ceased 
to  see  the  glory  of  God  in  his  wondrous  life. 

And  so  shall  it  be  with  you.  Never  mind  how 
feeble  your  efforts,  how  frequent  your  failures. 
Never  mind  that  you  cannot  see  how  or  where 
God  can  use  so  humble  a  life  as  yours.  Never 
mind  that  it  seems  so  fettered  by  circumstances 
that  God  can  surely  never  free  it  and  use  it. 
That  is  for  Him,  not  for  you.  Keep  off  God's 
ground.  It  is  for  you  simply  to  yield.  God  will 
take  care  of  the  rest.  And  as  you  believe  enough 
to  yield  you  \yill  surely  see  the  glory  of  God. 

«fC  ^  'jC  TfC 

The  faith  which  zvaits  shall  see. 

The  helpless  must  wait.  The  patient  do  wait. 
But  the  strong,  and  the  eager — how  hard  it  is 
for  them  to  wait!  To  wait  for  the  salvation  of 
a  soul  when  your  heart  is  breaking  with  the 
suspense;  to  wait  for  the  consecration  of  a  life 
while  you  see  the  world  laying  waste  its  precious- 
ness ;  to  wait  for  laborers  to  be  thrust  forth  while 
the  harvest  is  whitening  in  death ;  to  wait   for 


^7(y  IIPB  TALKS. 

God  to  bring  things  to  pass  and  see  Satan's  rav* 
ages  while  you  wait ;  such  waiting  takes  a  mighty 
faith.  And  yet  faith  which  waits  shall  surely 
see.    The  glory  of  God  comes  to  the  waiting  one. 

You  have  been  taking  a  long  and  wearisome 
railroad  journey.  For  days  you  have  been  trav- 
eling through  the  dust  and  heat.  You  are  near- 
ing  home,  and  brook  with  impatience  each  delay. 
At  midnight  you  are  awakened  by  the  slowing  of 
your  train.  It  bumps,  jars,  and  creaks,  and  finally 
comes  to  a  standstill.  You  wait,  and  wait. 
You  peer  out  into  the  gloom  with  your  face 
pressed  against  the  car  window.  Five,  ten,  twen- 
ty minutes  pass.  Still  all  is  quiet,  with  no  sign 
of  a  move.  You  drum  at  the  window  pane.  You 
turn  wearily  in  your  berth.  You  wonder  when 
the  weary  wait  will  end.  Presently  there  is  a 
sound  in  the  distance.  The  rattle  and  clatter 
come  nearer.  Then  there  is  a  rush,  a  roar,  the 
red  glare  of  a  great  fiery  eye  and  the  monster 
engine  and  its  trail  of  coaches  sweeps  by  you  in 
an  instant  and  is  swallawed  up  in  the  encircling 
darkness.  You  have  waited  long.  Now  you  see. 
You  see  in  vision  the  awful  death  which  would 
have  come  to  you  had  you  gone  on.  You  see 
the  wise  forethought  which  kept  you  waiting  on 
that  track.  It  was  a  passing  siding  and  the  one 
safe  thing  to  do  was  to  wait.  Had  you  gone  on 
it  would  have  been  to  the  wreckage  and  death  of 
a  collision. 

And  so  perchance  it  is  with  yourself.     Is  your 


BELIEVING  IS  SEEING.  77 

heart  in  the  mission  field  and  your  body  at  home? 
Are  you  eager  for  the  Master's  service,  yet  hin- 
dered on  every  side?  Is  the  horizon  of  Hfe  so 
narrowed  by  circumstances  as  to  become  ahnost 
unbearable?  Yet  God's  waiting  time  is  best  for 
you.  Wait — and  you  will  see  your  barriers  razed. 
Wait — and  you  will  see  your  circumstances 
change.  Wait — and  you  will  see  God  bringing 
things  to  pass  beyond  all  your  dreams.  Wait  and 
you  shall  see.  For  ''He  zvorketh  for  him  tliat 
waits  for  Him." 

*     *     *     * 

The  faith  which  does  not  understand — shall  see. 

Mary  and  Martha  could  not  understand  what 
their  Lord  was  doing.  Both  of  them  said  to 
Him,  "Lord,  if  Thou  hadst  been  here,  my  brother 
had  not  died."  Back  of  it  all  we  seem  to  read 
their  thought,  "Lord,  we  do  not  understand  why 
you  have  stayed  away  so  long.  We  do  not  un- 
derstand how  you  could  let  death  come  to  the 
man  whom  you  loved.  We  do  not  understand 
how  you  could  let  sorrow  and  suffering  ravage 
our  lives  when  your  presence  might  have  stayed 
it  all.  Why  did  you  not  come?  It  is  too  late 
now.  For  already  he  has  been  dead  these  four 
days."  And  to  it  all  Jesus  had  but  one  great 
truth.  "You  may  not  understand ;  but  I  tell  you 
if  you  believe,  you  will  see." 

Abraham  could  not  understand  why  God 
should  ask  the  sacrifice  of  his  bov.     But  he  trust- 


78  LIl^B  TALKS. 

ed.  And  he  saw  the  glory  of  God  in  his  restora- 
tion to  his  love.  Moses  could  not  understand 
why  God  should  keep  him  forty  years  in  the 
wilderness.  But  he  trusted.  And  he  saw  when 
God  called  him  to  lead  forth  Israel  from  bond- 
age. Joseph  could  not  understand  the  cruelty  of 
his  brethren,  the  false  witness  of  a  perfidious  wo- 
man, and  the  long  years  of  an  unjust  impris- 
onment. But  he  trusted.  And  he  saiv  at  last 
the  glory  of  God  in  it  all.  Jacob  could  not  under- 
stand the  strange  providence  which  permitted 
that  same  Joseph  to  be  torn  from  his  father's 
love.  But  he  too  sazv  the  glory  of  God  when 
he  looked  into  the  face  of  that  same  Joseph  as 
the  viceroy  of  a  great  king,  and  the  preserver  of 
his  own  life  and  the  lives  of  a  grt^at  nation. 

And  so  perhaps  it  is  in  your  life.  You  say, 
"1  do  not  understand  why  God  let  my  dear  one 
be  taken.  I  do  not  understand  why  affliction 
has  been  permitted  to  smite  me.  I  do  not  un- 
derstand the  devious  paths  by  which  God  is  lead- 
ing me.  I  do  not  understand  why  plans  and  pur- 
poses that  seemed  good  to  my  eyes  should  be 
baffled.  I  do  not  understand  why  blessings  I 
so  much  need  are  so  long  delayed,  and  some- 
times never  come  at  all.  There  are  so  many 
things  in  God's  dealings  with  me  I  cannot  un- 
derstand." Friend,  you  do  not  have  to  under- 
stand all  God's  way  with  you.  God  does  not 
expect  you  to  understand  them.  You  do  not  ex- 
pect your  child  to  understand,  only  believe.    And 


BliUEVIKG  IS  SEEING.  79 

some  day  you  will  see  the  glory  of  God  in  the 
things  you  do  not  understand.  For  we  walk  by 
faith,  and  not  by  sight.  And  the  glory  comes 
from  believing,  not  from  understanding.  Re- 
member this : 

The  things  we  do  not  understand  are  all  work- 
ing together  for  good  to  them  that  trust.  (Rom. 
8:28.) 

You  go  into  a  great  silk  mill.  Running  the 
length  of  the  room  is  a  massive  steel  shaft.  It 
is  whirling  away,  hundreds  of  revolutions  per 
minute.  All  the  wheels  upon  it  are  running  in 
the  same  direction  with  it.  But  across  the  room 
are  a  score  of  other  smaller  shafts,  called  "coun- 
ter shafts."  They  are  all  linked  to  the  great  main 
shaft.  But  they  are  all  running  in  exactly  the 
opposite  direction.  You  look  up  to  your  friend 
who  is  guiding  you  through  the  great  mill,  and 
say,  **I  do  not  understand  these  counter-shafts. 
They  all  seem  to  be  running  the  wrong  way,  op- 
posite to  the  great  main  shaft.  They  must  surely 
all  be  defeating  the  purpose  of  the  owner  of  tlie 
mill."  "Ah,"  says  your  friend,  "you  are  mistaken 
about  that.  Just  follow  me.  and  you  will  see." 
And  you  will  follow  him  down  the  long  aisles  into 
the  weaving  room.  And  there  you  see  the  busy 
looms,  driven  by  these  very  counter-shafts,  turn- 
ing out  yard  after  yard  of  the  rich,  lustrous  silk 
for  the  making  of  which  this  great  mill  is  being 
run.  You  see  that  the  very  counter-shafts  which 
seemed  to  be  working  against  the  main  shaft  are 


8o  LIFE  TALKS. 

in  reality  all  working  together  with  that  shaft  to 
carry  out  the  purpose  of  the  mill-owner  in  turn- 
ing out  the  beautiful  silken  fabric. 

Child  of  God,  all  things  are  not  good.  Nor 
does  God  say  that.  For  sin  is  not  good.  And 
sorrow  is  not  good.  Nor  is  suffering  good,  in  it- 
self. But  "all  things  zvork  together  for  good." 
And  God  does  say  that.  And  the  things  you  do 
not  understand,  the  things  which  seem  to  be  all 
working  against  3^ou,  all  these  are  really  work- 
ing together  to  turn  out  from  God's  workshop 
His  one  perfect,  finished  product  —  a  man  or 
woman  conformed  to  the  image  of  His  Son, 
Jesus  Christ.  And  concerning  these  "all  things" 
come  Christ's  sweet  words  to  us,  as  to  them  of 
old,  "Said  I  not  unto  thee  that  if  thou  wouldst 
believe  thou  shouldst  see  the  glory  of  God?" 

Whate'er  is  best  for  me,  my  God  will  bring  to  me, 

If  I  do  only  wait,  and  trust,  and  pray, 
¥/hate'er  seems  dark  to  me,  shall  end  in  light  for  me; 

'Tis  but  the  gloaming  which  fore-rims  the  day, 


The  Spirit-Filled  Life. 

(Jno.  7:38-390 

*'He  that  believeth  on  me,  as  the  Scripture  hath 
said,  out  of  his  innermost  being  shall  flozv  rivers 
of  living  zvater." 

''But  this  spake  he  of  the  Spirit,  which  they 
that  believe  on  hint  sJioiild  receive." 

If,  some  summer  day,  you  were  tramping 
down  a  certain  mountain  pass,  you  would,  by- 
and-by,  come  to  one  of  the  most  famous  of  Swiss 
glaciers.  In  the  perpendicular  wall  of  that  great 
glacier,  summer  sun  and  warm  winds  have  hol- 
lowed out  a  great  ice  cavern.  You  enter  the  arch 
and,  as  you  stand  in  the  fantastic  cave,  you  are 
chilled  through  with  its  cold.  Ice  above  you ;  ice 
before  you ;  ice  all  about  you ; — ^masses  of  ice ; 
miles  of  ice.  And  now,  as  you  gaze,  there  springs 
up  at  your  feet  a  crystal  stream  of  water  from 
the  very  heart  of  the  glacier,  and  begins  its  jour- 
ney down  the  valley.  You  could  almost  step 
across  it  where  it  finds  its  birth.  But,  Hke  the 
true  Christian  life,  as  it  goes  it  grows,  and  a  few 
miles  down  the  valley,  it  is  a  strong,  deep,  leap- 
ing stream.  The  birds  dip  their  bills  into  it,  and, 
drinking,  lift  their  heads  to  God  as  if  in  thanks- 
giving. The  trees  slip  their  roots  down  the  bank 
81 


82  LIFE  TALKS. 

and  draw  np  its  moisture.  The  lowing  herds 
sink  their  nostrils  in  its  pools  and  drink  of  its  re- 
freshing. By  and  by  it  enters  a  great  lake,  and 
seems  lost.  But  it  finds  issue,  and  crossing  cen- 
tral France,  it  takes  a  sudden  turn  and  runs 
southward^  and  then,  at  its  mouth,  broad  enough 
for  fishermen  to  draw  their  seines,  and  for  great 
ships  to  sail  upon  its  bosom,  it  is  at  last  lost  in 
Europe's  greatest  inland  sea.  And  this  beautiful, 
sparkling  river,  with  all  its  refreshing  and  bless- 
ing, springs  from  the  frozen  heart  of  a  great 
Swiss  glacier! 

Have  you  ever  looked  up  into  the  Lord's  face 
and  cried,  ''O,  Christ,  how  cold  my  heart  is! 
How  cold  when  I  study  Thy  blessed  Book  with 
all  its  wondrous  words  of  life;  how  callous  it 
seems  in  the  sacred  chamber  of  secret  prayer; 
how  icy  as  I  look  with  such  seeming  unconcern 
upon  the  sin  and  suffering  of  the  lost  world; 
how  frozen  in  its  lack  of  love  for  the  Christless 
millions  of  heathendom!  O  Christ,  is  there  any- 
thing that  will  melt  this  ice-berg  heart  of  mine, 
and  cause  a  river  of  love  and  peace  and  power  to 
flow  forth  from  it  to  the  world  about  me  ?"  And 
Jesus  Christ  says,  "There  is.  I  have  it."  The 
God  who  can  cause  a  river  of  refreshing  to  break 
forth  from  the  frigid  heart  of  an  Alpine  glacier 
can  make  a  river  of  life  burst  forth  from  your 
cold  heart.  Are  you  a  believer?  Then  listen. 
"Out  of  your" — do  you  heed  it?---"out  of  your 
innermost  being  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water.'* 


THE   SPIRIT-PILLBD   LIFE.  83 

Let  us  be  glad  that  Christ  has  made  this  truth 
so  plain.  Metaphors  and  similes  are  often  hard 
to  explain.  One  man  has  one  interpretation,  an- 
other man  a  different  one.  But  here  there  is  no 
chance  for  wrangling  or  disputings ;  none  for  dif- 
ference of  interpretation.  The  Holy  Spirit  in- 
terprets this  passage  Himself.  For  the  Word  of 
God  says  of  this  beautiful  figure,  "This  spake  He 
of  the  Spirit  which  they  that  believe  on  Him 
should  receive."  There  is  no  room  for  doubt 
about  it.  God  is  talking  of  a  river  of  spiritual 
blessing;  of  the  river  of  His  own  life  that  He 
means  shall  flow  from  the  heart  and  life  of  every 
child  of  His.  And  no  power  in  earth  has  a  right 
to  cheat  us  of  that  blessed  river  of  life.  It  is 
our  birthright,  and  no  man  can  keep  us  out  of 
it  if  we  fulfil  the  simple  conditions  Christ  gives. 


This  river  of  life  is  the  normal  life:  of  the 
Christian. 

We  recall  a  glorious  morning  drive  under  the 
sky  of  a  southern  spring  day.  The  world  seemed 
intoxicated  with  life.  The  tree-roots  were  suck- 
ing life  from  the  earth  in  which  they  were  hid. 
The  trunks  were  passing  it  upward  to  the  branch- 
es. The  branches  were  pouring  it  forth  to  the 
very  tips  of  the  swelling  buds.  The  seeds  buried 
in  the  ground  were  quickening  with  life.  The 
day  was  humming  with  the-  drone  and  buzz  of 


§4  LIFE  TALKS. 

insect  life.  The  very  air  you  breathed  made  the 
pulsing  blood  to  leap  and  thrill  with  life.  And 
the  thought  was  borne  home  with  power,  "If 
God's  normial  plan  for  His  physical  world  is  one 
of  such  abounding,  over-flowing  life,  why  should 
it  not  be  the  same  for  the  spiritual  life  of  His 
own  children?"  "Ah,"  you  say,  "but  this  river 
of  the  Spirit  is  the  exceptional  life.  It  is  beyond 
the  ordinary.  It  is  not  the  normal  life  of  the 
believer  of  to-day."  Are  we  sure  of  that?  What 
is  the  believer's  normal  life?  Is  the  usual  life  of 
the  Christian  the  normal  life  God  has  designed 
for  him  ?  Or,  does  it  not  rather  reveal  the  shame 
of  his  shortcoming  of  it? 

To  know  naught  of  the  power  of  God ;  to  live 
a  barren,  fruitless  life  in  the  kingdom  of  God ;  to 
have  made  light  in  the  service  of  God:  to  be 
so  allied  with  the  world  as  hardly  to  be  known 
as  the  children  of  God — is  this  the  normal  Hfe  of 
God's  child?  Nay,  never.  It  may  be  the  usual 
life — alas  for  that! — but  it  is  never  the  normal 
life.  It  may  be  the  one  we  are  living.  But  it  is 
an  awful  sag  from  the  one  Christ  means  us  to 
live. 

Would  you  look  upon  a  picture  of  the  normal 
life?  Here  it  is.  Mark  it  well.  "And  the  mul- 
titude of  them  that  believed  were  of  one  heart 
and  one  soul :  and  great  grace  was  upon  them  all : 
and  all  that  believed  were  together:  and  they, 
continuing  daily  with  one  accord  in  the  temple, 
and  breaking  bread  from  house  to  house,  did  eat 


THE   SPJRlT-flLLED   LIPn.  85 

their  meat  with  ghuhicss  and  singleness  of  heart, 
praising  God  and  having  favor  with  all  the  peo- 
ple. And  the  Lord  added  to  the  church  daily  such 
as  were  being  saved."  Lives  filled  with  grace  and 
joy,  love  and  unity,  testimony  and  power,  and 
favor  both  with  men  and  God — these  were  the 
normal  lives  in  those  glad  days.  Yea,  and  God 
means  these  to  be  the  normal  lives  yet.  Verily, 
this  life  is  not  the  exception  in  God's  plan.  It  is 
the  type.  It  is  the  worldly,  powerless,  fruitless 
Christian  life  which  is  abnormal,  that  is.  away 
from  the  normal.  The  Spirit-filled  life  is  God's 
own  pattern  in  the  mount:  God's  own  perfect 
model  for  our  lives.  For  God  never  has  designed 
and  never  will  endure  any  substitute  for  the  in- 
dividual, consecrated.  Spirit-filkd  life,  and  any 
church  which  falls  short  of  this  high  ideal  will 
miss  its  high  calling  however  pretentious  its 
claims,  however  elaborate  its  organization. 


r/n'.9  river  of  life  is  ix  us  who  bKlikve. 

A  belated  ship  had  come  in  from  sea.  Her 
water  barrels  were  exhausted.  Her  crew  were 
perishing  with  thirst.  By  and  by  they  sighted 
another  vessel,  and  the  cry  went  up  from  the 
perishing  men,  "Send  us  water;  send  us  water." 
Back  from  the  captain  of  the  other  ship  came  the 
strange  reply: — "Throw  over  your  pails  and 
draw."  "But  we  want  not  this  salt  water  to  mad- 
den our  thirst.    We  are  famishiuir  for  life-giving^ 


86  LIFE  TALKS, 

water."  Back  again  came  the  same  strange  re- 
ply : — "Throw  over  your  pails  and  draw."  Once 
again  with  parched  lips  and  burning  throats,  the 
now  desperate  crew  called  for  water.  And  then 
came  back  the  answer: — ''You  are  in  the  mouth 
of  the  Amazon.  Throw  over  your  pails  and 
draw."  And,  sure  enough,  all  unknown  to  them- 
selves, they  had  sailed  into  the  mouth  of  the 
Amazon,  which  is,  at  mid-river,  so  wide  as  to 
be  out  of  sight  of  land.  And,  all  the  while  they 
were  thirsting,  perishing,  and  crying  for  water, 
the  sweet,  fresh  water  of  that  great  river  was 
all  about  them,  and  they  needed  only  to  draw,  to 
drink,  and  find  life. 

Just  so  are  men  and  women  crying  out  to  God 
for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  come :  pleading  for  a  bap- 
tism of  the  Holy  Spirit;  waiting  to  receive  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Yet,  all  the  while,  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  here.  For  this  river  of  life,  this  Spirit  of  the 
living  God,  becomes  the  possession  of  every  one 
of  His  children  upon  belief  in  Jesus  Christ  for 
salvation.  H  there  were  no  other  test  to  prove 
this  than  Christ's  own  word  here  that  would  seem 
to  be  all-sufficient.  How  clear  and  explicit  it  is. 
"He  that  believeth  out  of  his  innermost  being 
shall  flow."  "But  this  spake  he  of  the  Spirit 
which  they  that  believe  on  Him  should  receive." 
No  other  condition  named,  none  other  needed,  but 
this  simple  one  of  faith  in  Him  for  salvation. 
The  faith  which  trusts  Him  then  for  salvation: 
and  then  the  faith  which  presses  on  to  give  the 


Tlin   SPIRIT-riLLED   LlfE.  87 

life  to  Him  in  dedication :  which  commits  all 
things  to  His  keeping:  which  draws  day  by  day 
upon  Him  for  His  resurrection  life:  which  con- 
stantly leans  upon  and  lives  upon  Him  for  all 
things : — it  is  this  faith  alone  which  the  fuller, 
more  complete,  and  more  all-sweeping  it  becomes, 
brings  to  the  child  of  God  an  ever-increasing, 
ever-enriching  knowledge  of  the  indwelling  Spirit 
of  God. 

Of  like  import  is  our  Lord's  word  to  His  dis- 
ciples in  the  fourteenth  of  John.  There  He  tells 
them  that  the  Father  will  send  them  "another 
Comforter."  "For  He  dwelleth  zmtli  you  and 
shall  be  in  you."  That  word  "another"  is  signi- 
ficant. There  are  two  words  for  it  in  the  Greek. 
One  means  another  of  a  different  kind.  The  sec- 
ond means  another  of  the  same  kind.  Interest- 
ingly enough,  our  English  word  "another"  con- 
tains this  double  meaning.  For  example  :  You  go 
into  a  hardware  store  to  buy  a  pen-knife.  You 
select  one  seemingly  perfect.  But  when  you 
come  to  use  it  you  find  it  otherwise.  The  ^(\g^ 
is  dull.  The  steel  is  brittle  and  worthless.  The 
first  strain  you  put  upon  the  blade  it  snaps  in  two. 
You  go  back  to  the  merchant  and  say:  "This 
]:nife  does  not  please  me  at  all.  I  want  another." 
You  mean  another  of  a  different  kind.  But,  now 
suppose  when  you  buy  your  second  knife  you 
find  it  just  right.  The  blade  is  keen  as  a  razor. 
The  steel  is  of  the  finest  quality.  The  handle  is 
of   a   beautiful   pearl.     You   are   delij^htcd    with 


88  urn  TALKS. 

your  purchase.  You  think  of  a  friend  to  whom 
you  would  Hke  to  give  one  Hke  it.  So  you  go 
back  again  to  the  merchant  and  say — ''I  am  de- 
Hghted  with  this  knife.  Please  give  me  another," 
And,  now  you  mean  another  of  the  same  kind, 
exactly  like  the  one  you  have  just  bought. 

When  the  Lord  Jesus  was  going  away  from  His 
own  and  said  *'The  Father  will  send  you  another 
Comforter,"  He  used  the  Greek  word  which 
means  ''another  of  the  same  kind."  That  is,  the 
very  same  as  Himself.  "The  very  same  life  you 
have  seen  flowing  from  Me;  the  very  same  the 
Father  sent  down  from  Heaven  with  Me;  the 
very  same  by  which  He  has  done  His  wondrous 
works  through  Me;  that  very  same  Holy  Spirit 
shall  be  in  you,  even  as  He  was  not  in  the  Old 
Testament  saints.  He  was  zvith  them;  but  he 
shall  be  in  you."  And  so  with  all  reverence,  yet 
with  all  joy  and  gladness  of  heart  may  we  say 
that  the  very  same  Holy  Spirit  who  dwelt  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  Is  dwelling  in 
us,  God's  children.  Let  us  believe  upon  His  word, 
that  He  is  so  indwelling  in  all  of  us  who  are  be- 
lievers in  Him,  and  just  waiting  for  a  chance  to 
live  out  His  life  in  all  Its  fullness  through  us. 

And  so  we  pass  naturally  to  our  next  thought, 
that 

This  river  of  life  will  fill  us  as  we  yikld. 

The  stream  of  life  and  power  from  God  runs 
along  the  river-bed  of  the  will  of  God.     Where- 


THE   SPIRir-riLLIiD   LIFE.  89 

fore  the  man  or  wcnian  who  is  most  fully  in  the 
will  of  God  must  most  fully  know  the  life  and 
fullness  of  God.  The  one  iMan  who  had  the 
Spirit  '^without  measure"  was  He  who  at  the  be- 
ginning said  to  God,  **Lo,  I  came  to  do  Thy  will." 
In  other  words,  self-will  is  a  dyke;  the  yielded 
will  is  a  channel.  The  dyke  of  self-will  keeps 
out  the  fulness  of  God's  life.  But  the  channel  of 
the  yielded  will  furnishes  an  avenue  for  its  out- 
flow. Why  does  the  harp  breathe  forth  its  rav- 
ishing strains  under  the  hand  of  the  master- 
harper?  Because  it  is  yielded  to  him.  Why  is 
the  molten  bronze  filled  with  every  outline  of  the 
beauty  of  the  mould  ?  Because  it  is  yielded  to  it. 
Why  does  the  great  ship  plough  her  way  through 
storm  and  surge  to  her  destined  haven?  Because 
she  is  yielded  to  the  will  and  touch  of  the  helms- 
man. If  the  harp,  and  the  bronze,  and  the  ship 
each  had  a  will  of  its  own  it  could  hinder  the 
master's  highest  purpose  for  it.  You  do  have 
such  a  will.  And  you  can  resist  God.  There- 
fore you  must  needs  yield  the  life  to  Him,  if  so 
be  that  He  may  fill  it.  And  that  fuller  life  will 
come.  It  may  not  be  in  a  flash.  It  may 
come  by  degrees.  But  as  you  yield  your  life  by 
one  definite  act,  and  then,  day  by  day,  learn  to 
live  out  that  act  in  a  life  of  yieldedness  and  min- 
istry, God's  river  of  life  will  surely  and  steadily 
manifest  itself  from  your  innermost  being. 


90  UPB  TALKS. 

This  river  of  life  will  flow  ]?orth  from  us  as  zue 

SERVE. 

That  was  a  sweet  prayer  of  a  young  Christian 
girl — 'Xord,  fill  me  to  overflowing.  I  cannot  hold 
much.  But  I  can  overflow  a  great  deal."  And 
she  was  right.  For  with  many  the  desire  con- 
cerning the  Holy  Spirit  is  to  hoid,  and  to  enjoy. 
Whereas  with  God  it  is  to  give,  and  to  overflow 
to  others.  For  we  see  the  Spirit  of  God  here 
pictured  as  a  great,  life-giving  river.  But  every 
river  needs  an  outlet.  When  it  has  none  it  ceases 
to  be  a  river,  and  becomes  only  a  stagnant  pool. 
The  river  of  the  Spirit  is  subject  to  the  same 
great  river-law.  It  seeks  an  outlet  for  the  divine 
outflow  of  life  and  love  in  everyday,  practical 
ministry  to  others.  It  begins  its  flow  as  soon  as 
it  finds  a  channel.  And  it  keeps  it  up  so  long  as 
we  remain  such.  Jesus  does  not  say  "In  his  in- 
nermost being  shall  stay"  but  ''out  from  his  in- 
nermost being  shall  flow'  these  living  streams. 
That  is  the  one  purpose  for  which  rivers  exist — 
to  flow.  Cut  off  their  outlet  and  you  stop  the 
flow. 

Here  is  an  open  secret  for  us  all.  The  man  or 
woman  who  will  offer  the  Spirit-river  this  simple 
outlet  of  humble,  willing  service  will  know  His 
steady  over-flow.  People  plunge  the  probe  of 
self-examination  into  their  inner  selves,  seeking 
all  sorts  of  inward,  subjective  causes  for  their 
failure  of  spiritual  life  and  experience.  Ordinarily 


THE   SPIRIT-FILLED   LIFE.  91 

the  reason  for  that  faikire  is  amazingly  simple, 
and  near  at  hand.  Is  the  life  selfish,  and  self- 
centered  ?  Is  it  failing  in  daily,  practical  ministry 
to  others  ?  And  would  you  know  the  remedy  ?  It 
is  this.  Do  not  try  to  shut  up  the  Spirit  in  a 
stagnant  pool  of  selfishness.  Let  Him  have  His 
river-way  of  flow  through  outlet — the  outlet  of 
loving,  practical  service  to  others.  Try  this. 
Then  all  your  spiritual  moods  and  morbidness 
will  disappear  in  the  daily,  joyful  consciousness 
of  His  steady  outflow  through  the  channel  of 
service. 

There  comes  to  mind  a  dear  railroad  friend,  a 
conductor  on  a  freight  train.  Not  a  man  of  learn- 
ing as  the  world  counts  learning.  But  he  knew 
God.  There  came  to  him  a  time  when  the  battle 
was  on  over  the  consecration  of  his  life  to  God. 
Coming  from  his  train  one  night  long  after  mid- 
night he  fought  out  this  battle  in  the  woods  on  a 
hill  back  of  his  home  town.  There  in  the  dark- 
ness he  gave  his  life  to  God.  From  that  time  the 
river  of  life  flowed  with  increasing  power  and 
abundance  from  the  railroad  man's  innermost  be- 
ing. One  day  he  was  taking  his  train  to  a  distant 
city.  In  the  train  was  a  stock-car  containing  a 
valuable  race  horse,  on  its  way  to  the  city  races. 
In  charge  of  the  horse  was  a  special  care-taker. 
By  and  by,  for  some  cause,  the  train  was  side- 
tracked and  held  in  waiting.  As  the  wait  grew 
more  tedious  this  man  grew  very  angry.  He  be- 
gan  to   stride   \iT>  and   down   the  track,   fic-ccly 


92  LIPB  TALKS. 

cursing  and  blaspheming.  The  Christian  conduc- 
tor bore  it  as  long  as  he  could.  Then  walking  up 
to  the  godless  blasphemer,  he  put  his  hand  upon 
the  latter's  shoulder  and  said,  gently,  "My  friend, 
I  wish  you  would  cease  taking  that  Name  in  vain. 
It  is  the  most  precious  Name  in  the  world  to  me, 
and  it  grieves  me  to  hear  it  blasphemed."  As  he 
talked  on  in  this  strain  of  the  Man  who  had  died 
for  him,  to  redeem  him  from  death  and  sin,  a 
great  change  came  over  the  blasphemer.  He 
ceased  cursing.  Evidently  he  was  profoundly 
moved  by  the  words  of  the  Christian  railroad 
man.  Presently  he  turned  to  him  and  said — 
"Conductor,  I  have  a  goodly  sum  of  money  on  my 
person.  I  had  made  all  my  plans  to  spend  it 
when  I  reached  the  city.  I  was  going  to  pass  the 
night  in  sin  and  debauchery.  But  your  words 
have  touched  me.  I  have  changed  my  mind.  As 
soon  as  I  reach  that  city  and  have  put  away  my 
horse  I  shall  turn  straight  home  to  my  wife  and 
children.  And  by  the  grace  of  God  I  shall  here- 
after be  a  different  man." 

Out  from  the  innermost  being  of  our  railroad 
friend  the  river  of  life  was  flowing,  touching  and 
quickening  another  life  as  it  flowed.  And  why? 
Because  he  was  yielded  to  it,  and  was  willing  to 
let  it  have  its  way  of  service.  Is  there  anything  to 
hinder  the  same  in  us?  Nothing — if  we  but  offer 
it  the  same  yieldingness,  the  same  willingness  for 
humble,  every-day,  unselfish  service. 


ri-ia  spiRii'-i'iLiMD  Lira.  93 

This  river  of  life  may  flow  forth  from  us  uncon- 
sciously. 

I  was  in  a  great  city,  teaching.  A  difficult  ques- 
tion of  guidance  had  arisen.  Day  after  day  I 
had  prayed  about  it.  But  the  perplexity  seemed 
only  to  increase.  At  last  I  came  to  the  danger 
point  of  anxiety,  so  earnestly  had  light  been 
sought  and  found  not.  And  then  this  happened. 
One  morning  before  the  dawn  I  suddenly  awak- 
ened from  sleep.  The  first  consciousness  that 
came  in  the  darkness  was  that  a  heavy  wagoii  was 
rumbling  past  the  window,  in  the  street  outside. 
The  next  was  that  some  one  on  the  wagon — pre- 
sumably its  driver — was  whistling  a  tune.  And 
the  next  vivid  impression  was  of  the  tune  he  was 
whistling.     It  was 

"Then  we'll  trust  and  obey : 
For  there's  no  other  way, 
To  be  happy  in  Jesus, 
But  to  trust  and  obey." 

Like  a  flash  out  from  the  darkness,  came  the 
thought  as  from  the  Lord,  "Why,  my  child,  this 
is  all  I  expect  of  you.  Simply  act  upon  the  light 
as  best  you  see  it,  and  trust  Me  to  lead  you.  There 
is  nothing  you  need  but  to  trust  and  obey."  At 
once  I  saw  I  had  been  unduly  anxious  about  the 
guidance,  and  that  this  was  the  exact  message  I 
needed  in  this  time  of  perplexity  and  uncertainty. 
Light  flooded  my  pathway.  Perplexity  made  way 
for  peace.    The  problem  was  solved.    The  rumble 


94  LIFE  TALKS. 

of  the  dray  wheels  died  away  in  the  distance.  The 
song  of  the  whistler  ceased.  But  a  message  had 
gone  straight  home  to  my  heart  more  wondrous 
than  any  sermon  ever  heard.  I  do  not  know 
whether  the  unseen  whistler  was  a  child  of  God. 
But  I  believe  it.  And  out  from  his  innermost  be- 
ing was  flowing  that  river  of  life  which  brought 
into  the  life  of  another  child  of  God  such  a  touch 
of  life,  and  light,  and  refreshing  as  he  who  passed 
on  into  the  darkness  never  knew  or  dreamed. 

"O  Lord,"  said  one  of  His  saints,  "I  thank 
Thee  that  Thou  hast  forgotten  all  the  sins  I  re- 
member, yet  dost  remember  all  the  good  deeds,  I 
have  forgotten."  That  is  true.  And  out  from 
our  lives,  all  unconscious  to  us,  may  flow  a  stream 
of  influence  and  blessing  of  which  we  may  in  no 
wise  be  conscious.  But  he  does  not  forget  it.  And 
it  shall  all  be  revealed  in  the  day  of  manifestation 
to  our  imspeakable  joy,  and  His  eternal  glory. 

"This  learned  I  from  the  shadow  of  a  tree, 
Where  to  and  fro  swayed  on  a  garden  wall 
Our  shadow-selves,  our  influence,  may  fall 
Where  we  can  never  be." 

*      *      *      * 

"And  he  shewed  me  a  pure  river  of  water  of 
life  *  *  *  proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of 
God."  Rev.  22:  I. 

"This  Jesus  *  *  *  having  received  of  the 
Father  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost  *  *  * 
hath  shed  forth  this  which  ye  now  see."  Acts  2 : 
32-33.  - -  


THE   SPIRIT-PILLED   LIPE.  95 

Wonderful  river  of  life!  It  proceedeth  from 
the  very  throne  of  the  Father.  It  was  received 
by  the  Son  from  the  Father.  It  is  shed  forth  by 
the  Son  upon  us  other  children  of  the  Father. 
And  now  as  we  believe — and  yield — and  serve,  it 
will  abide — fill — and  flow  forth  from  us  to  the 
sinning,  suffering,  dying  world  here  below  which 
so  sorely  needs  the  touch  of  His  divine  life 
through  us,  His  Spirit-indwelt  children. 


Jacob's  Struggle, 


(Gen.  32:24-32.) 

There  are  four  or  five  great  truths  that  stand 
out  in  this  story  of  Jacob  as  the  lofty  peaks  of 
a  mountain  chain  rise  above  the  range  of  which 
they  form  a  part.    The  first  is, 

*     *     *     * 
There  zms  great  selfishness. 

We  have  no  evidence  that  Jacob's  Hfe  during 
the  years  just  prior  to  this  was  one  marred  by  any 
heinous  sin.  We  do  not  know  that  it  had  broken 
out  into  gross  forms  of  self-indulgence,  which 
brought  any  special  judgment  of  God  upon  him. 
But  it  seems  to  have  been  like  the  lives  of  many 
other  children  of  God:  a  Hfe  which  was  simply 
lived  for  self;  a  life  such  as  the  world  about  us 
lives,  and  from  which  world  we  do  not  seem  to 
be  very  different  as  we  ourselves  live  it.  "Well," 
we  say,  *'if  there  was  nothing  more  to  smirch  Ja- 
cob's Hfe  than  mere  selfishness,  that  does  not 
seem  to  be  much."  But  that  was  enough.  When 
3^ou  recall  what  this  name  Jacob  means  you  will 
realize  what  selfishness  means  in  the  life  of  a 
child  of  God.  He  was  caHed  "Supplanter."  And 
the  Holy  Spirit  could  scarcely  have  chosen  a  word 
96 


JACOB'S  STRUGGLE.  97 

that  would  more  clearly  express  what  selfishness 
docs  than  this — that  the  self-life  is  the  supplanter 
of  the  Christ-life.  Is  it  not  enough  that  selfish- 
ness supplants  the  pozvcr  of  God?  The  man  who 
lives  a  purely  selfish  life  has  no  power  in  prayer; 
no  power  in  testimony ;  no  power  in  work  for  the 
unsaved ;  no  power  for  God  in  the  community 
about  him. 

Is  it  not  enough  that  selfishness  supplants  the 
peace  of  God?  For  the  fret  and  care  of  trying 
to  serve  two  masters — of  being  called  by  God's 
name  and  yet  trying  to  live  in  God's  world  just 
as  the  worldling  is  living — this  gives  a  man  no 
peace.  ''Thou  hast  made  us  for  Thyself,  O 
God,"  said  Augustine,  "and  our  souls  are  rest- 
less till  they  rest  in  Thee."  And  until  a  child  of 
Cod's  life  rests  in  God  and  in  God  alone,  he  will 
not  find  that  peace  of  God  which  God  wants  to 
give. 

Is  it  not  enough  that  selfishness  supplants  the 
lo-z'c  of  God?  For  the  two  cannot  co-exist.  God 
is  utterly  unselfish.  God  is  love — love  of  others. 
And  when  we  live  a  life  that  is  purely  a  life  for 
self,  the  love  of  God  cannot  fill  our  hearts,  and 
flow  through  those  hearts  to  others. 

Is  it  not  enough  that  selfishness  supplants  the 
purpose  of  God?  The  selfish  man  sits  in  his 
cushioned  pew  and  worships  God  in  his  way. 
But  to  enter  into  the  purpose  of  Christ  for  a  lost 
world  ;  to  share  the  agony  of  Christ  for  lost  souls  ; 
to  join. in  the  intercession  of  Christ  for  the  giv- 


98  UPB  TALKS. 

ing  of  the  Gospel  to  this  dark  world ;  to  become 
a  partner  in  the  purposes  of  God — that  never  en- 
ters into  the  life  of  selfishness.  Is  it  not  enough 
that  selfishness  should  supplant  the  life  of  God 
in  this  way? 

Moreover  God  has  set  His  stamp  upon  selfish- 
ness as  the  supreme  foe  of  Himself.  There  are 
three  deadly  enemies  of  God :  the  world,  the  flesh, 
and  the  devil.  We  are  in  the  world,  but  God 
tells  us  not  to  be  of  it.  We  may  resist  the  devil, 
and  he  will  flee  from  us.  But  we  must  renounce 
the  self  within,  if  God  is  to  have  the  complete 
victory  in  our  lives.  Over  the  door  of  the  In- 
ferno one  saw :  *'A11  ye  who  enter  here  abandon 
hope."  Over  the  portal  of  Christian  discipleship 
is  written :  "All  ye  who  enter  here  abandon  self." 
Some  one  has  well  said :  ''There  is  a  cross  and  a 
throne  in  every  heart.  We  may  put  Christ  on 
the  throne  and  self  on  the  cross.  Or  we  may  put 
self  on  the  throne,  and  Christ  on  the  cross."  Self- 
ishness is  indeed  the  supplanter  of  God  in  the 
soul.  God  always  dwelt  in  the  tabernacle  in  His 
shekinah  glory  and  presence.  Yet  there  was  a 
veil  that  hid  Him  from  those  who  entered  there 
with  Him.  So  God  is  always  dwelling  in  the 
heart  of  His  child,  but  the  veil  that  darkens,  and 
mars,  and  limits  the  manifestation  of  His  pres- 
ence is  the  veil  of  the  flesh — the  self-life  within 
us.  Wherefore  when  God,  who  is  absolute  and 
utter  unselfishness,  meets  a  child  of  His,  like 
Jacob,  given  up  to  selfishness,  there  can  be  but 


JACOB'S  STRUGGLE.  99 

one  issue.    God  enters  into  controversy  with  that 
life  of  selfishness.    And  thus,  next : — 

*     *     *     * 

There  zcas  a  great  struggle. 

For  as  we  read  on  in  the  narrative  we  find  that 

God  was  striving)  ivith  Jacob. 

"God  striveth,"  the  margin  of  the  Revision 
puts  it.  We  do  not  read  it  so.  But  God  does. 
Listen :  "And  Jacob  was  left  alone,  and  there 
wrestled  a  man  (the  God-man)  with  him  (Ja- 
cob) until  the  breaking  of  the  day.  And  when 
He  (the  God-man)  saw  that  He  prevailed  not 
against  him  (Jacob)  He  touched  the  hollow  of 
his  (Jacob's)  tliigh :  and  the  hollow  of  Jacob's 
thigh  was  out  of  joint."  This  is  God's  story. 
How  clear  it  is!  There  was  a  man  wrestling 
against  Jacob  all  the  long  night.  And  Jacob's 
wrestling  was  a  resistive  wTCstling.  It  was  not 
Jacob  wrestling  with  God  for  a  blessing.  It  was 
God  wrestling  with  Jacob  to  break  down  and  put 
away  from  his  life  the  things  that  were  hindering 
the  ever  present  and  ever  gracious  purpose  ot 
God  to  bless  His  child  with  the  greatest  possible 
measure  of  blessing.  How  much  m.ore  consistent 
with  the  nature  and  love  of  God  is  this  I  A  love 
w'hich  is  more  eager  and  willing  to  bless  His 
children  than  they  themselves  are  to  be  blessed. 
**God  striveth."  How  this  God  of  grace  strives 
with  the  sinner!     How  he  strives  with  that  un- 


100  IIFB  TALKS. 

ceasing  inner  voice  of  the  Spirit  in  the  soul! 
How  He  strives  in  the  tender  entreaties  of  loved 
ones.  How  He  strives  in  all  the  vidssitndes  of 
life,  death,  suffering,  affliction,'  and  the  like! 
Tenderly^  patiently,  lovingly  through  all  the  long, 
rebellious,  weary  years  of  rejection  does  God 
strive  to  wirl  the  soul  of  "the  sinner  from  death  to 
life.     But  let  it  be  noted  that  in  this  instance 

God  was  striving  not  for  a'  soul,  hut  for  a  life. 

For  a' man  may  be  a  chiH  of  ■  God,  yet  not  a 
dedicated  one.  He  may  give  up  his  sins,  yet  not 
himself.  His  soul  may  Ise  saved,  but  his  life 
unyielded  to  God.  Jacob  was  'Such  a  child  of 
God.  :  He  had  been  saved  long  ere  this.  God 
was  not  striving  for  his  soul.  He  was  striving 
for  his  life.  He  was  striving  to  win  him  away 
from-  a  past  which'  had  been  lived  for  self,  to  a 
future  wbich  should  be  lived  for  God  and  His 
glory. 

If  you  turn  to  the  margin  of  James  4:  5  you 
will  find  a  beautiful  rendering  which  reads  like 
this :  "That  Spirit  which  He  made  to  dwell  within 
us  yearneth  for  us  with  jealous  envy."  What  a 
picture  of  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  within  God's 
child!  Like  a  wife  who,  when  she  sees  her  hus- 
band giving  his  affections  to  any  other  than  her- 
self to  whom  they  solely  belong,  feels  her  heart 
go  out  in  jealous,  wifely  envy  for  those  affections. 
Or  like  a  mother  who,  when  she  sees  her  boy 
giving  up  his  life  to  reckless,  out-breaking  sin, 


JACOB'S  STRUGGLE.  loi 

burns  with  earnest,  jealous  longing  for  that  life 
that  is  yielded  to  evil-doing.  Just  so,  when  the 
Holy  Spirit  comes  into  one  who  has  been  saved 
by  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  has  been  re- 
deemed as  a  precious  possession  for  God  Himself, 
and  then  sees  such  a  life  going  out  toward 
the  world,  toward  its  frivolity,  its  foolishness  ; 
that  self-same  Holy  Spirit  is  filled  with  godly, 
jealous  yearning  for  that  life.  There  is  a  godly, 
jealous  envy  for  the  years  which  the  world  is 
stealing  away  while  He  yearns  to  redeem  them ; 
for  the  talents  which  are  being  wasted  while  He 
is  yearning  to  use  them  in  His  kingdom ;  for  the 
soul  which  the  world  is  staining  and  marring 
while  He  is  yearning  to  conform  it  to  the  glorious 
image  of  His  Son.  And  hence  the  mighty  striv- 
ing of  the  Spirit  for  His  own. 

That  is  exactly  what  occurs  in  your  life  and  in 
my  life.  How  often  has  the  Hofy  Spirit  yearned 
for  us,  pleading  with  us  to  give  that  life  to  Hini, 
to  turn  away  from  the  world,  to  turn  away  from 
its  emptiness,  to  give  ourselves  as  a  burnt-offer- 
ing to  God,  that  Jesus  Christ  may  have  His  own 
blessed  way  with  the  life  He  has  bought  with  His 
own  precious  blood.  That  is  God's  picture  of 
this  struggle — a  God  of  love  struggling  to  break 
down  in  His  child's  life  the  thing  that  was  hin- 
dering Him  from  having  His  full  and  perfect 
way  of  blessing,  and  power,  and  ministry  through 
that  child.  And  we  need  only  look  within  to  see 
that  this  carnal  mind — this  self-life — is  the  su- 


102  LIFE  TALKS. 

preme  foe  struggling  against  God,  to  hinder  and 
baffle  the  mighty  purpose  of  God  in  our  lives. 

God's  child  zvas  resisting.^ 

That  was  what  Jacob  was  doing.  All  the  night 
long  he  was  fighting  a  desperate  battle  against 
God.  There  was  no  gleam  of  spear,  no  clash  of 
sword,  no  hissing  of  dart.  But  the  fiercest  fight 
of  Jacob's  life  was  on  and  on  to  death.  We  can 
almost  hear  his  hard,  quick  breathing.  We  can  al- 
most see  the  set  teeth  ;  the  straining,  writhing  body 
of  the  wrestler ;  the  desperate  countenance  fixed  in 
its  purpose  of  resistance.  With  every  atom  of 
power  and  persistence  within  him,  Jacob  was  re- 
sisting God — the  God  who  wanted  to  bless  him! 
And  so  do  we.  God  strives  to  wrest  from  our 
hands  the  poison  draught  of  pleasure  which  the 
world  puts  to  our  lips,  and  we  resist  Him.  God 
tries  to  overthrow  some  secret  idol  that  we  are 
worshipping,  and  we  resist  Him.  God  would  take 
from  our  grasp  some  edged  tool  of  Satan  behind 
whose  glitter  death  lurks  for  us,  and  we  resist 
Him.  God  takes  us  by  the  hand  to  lead  us  away, 
in  love,  from  the  snares  and  pitfalls  which  the 
lusts  of  the  flesh  spread  for  our  unwary  feet,  and 
we  resist  Him.  And  then  as  we  battle  against  the 
Spirit  of  God  there  comes  into  our  lives  the  next 
crisis  which  came  into  Jacob's  at  this  point- 


JACOB'S  STRUGGLG.  103 

There  7i'<is  a  great  bricakdovvn. 

*He  touched  the  hollow  of  Jacob's  thigh:  and 
the  hollow  of  Jacob's  thigh  was  out  of  joint." 
Jacob  broke  down  under  the  hand  of  the  mighty 
wrestler.  We  said  to  a  physician  friend  one  day, 
as  we  were  chatting  about  this: — ''Doctor,  what 
is  the  exact  significance  of  God's  touching  Jacob 
upon  the  sinew  of  his  thigh?"  He  replied:  "The 
sinew  of  the  thigh  is  the  strongest  in  the  human 
body.  A  horse  could  scarcely  tear  away  the  limb, 
pulling  it  straight.  Only  as  he  twisted  it  could  he 
tear  it  apart."  Ah,  I  see,  God  has  to  break  us 
down  at  the  strongest  part  of  our  self-life  before 
He  can  have  His  own  way  of  blessing  with  us. 

We  talk  about  surrender.  We  talk  about  sur- 
rendering all.  But  when  it  comes  to  the  core  of 
the  matter,  "all"  usually  means  some  one  supreme 
point  of  issue  between  us  and  God ;  some  one 
strong  citadel  in  which  the  self-life  is  entrenched  ; 
some  one  key  point  which  God  must  carry  by  as- 
sault before  He  can  have  His  way  with  us.  That 
great  thigh  sinew — like  the  trunk  on  which  a  tree 
stands  as  the  storms  assail  it — like  the  column  on 
which  a  great  house  stavs  its  massiveness ;  that 
great  sinew  straining  all  night  against  God — 
bringing  to  bear  all  the  resistive  power  of  the 
wrestler  against  God — God  touched  that  and 
broke  him  down.  Just  so  does  God  deal  with  us. 
That  pride — God  touches,  and  breaks  it  down 
until  the  self-life  is  humbled  in  the  dust.     That 


104  LIFE  TALKS. 

money  the  Christian  business  man  is  piling  up 
until  covetousness  is  eating  into  his  heart  like  a 
canker — God  touches  it,  and  it  takes  wings  and 
flies  away.  That  idol  which  self  is  worshipping — 
God  touches  it,  and  like  Dagon,  hurls- it  to  the^ 
ground,  maimed  and  mutilated.  That  strength  in 
which  self  revels — God  lays  His  finger  upon  it  and 
withers  it,  and  self  is  brought  to  helplessness.  Ah, 
we  do  not  know  how  to  deal  with  the  self -life. 
But  God  does.  And  He  takes  away  the  thing 
upon  which  it  feeds,  and  robs  it  of  the  power  upon 
which  it  depends,  and  cuts  away  the  props  upon 
which  it  stands,  until  it  lies  in  helplessness  at  His 
feet. 

Here  is  a  Christian  business  man.  He  has 
been  redeemed.  His  mouth  is  full  of  praise  and 
joyful  testimony  at  the  first.  But  he  goes  out 
into  the  world.  He  begins  to  live  just  as  the 
worldly  man  lives.  It  is  all  gaining  and  no  giv- 
ing; it  is  all  hoarding,  and  no  spending  and  being 
spent  for  God.  It  is  all  for  self  and 
none  for  God.  He  keeps  on  in  this  path.  And 
bye-and-byef  his  lips  are  sealed  in  the  testimony 
meeting.  You  hear  no  voice  of  prayer  from  him. 
His  conscious  communion  with  God  is  broken. 
Bye-and-bye  coldness  steals  into  his  heart  and  he 
becomes  a  powerless  man.  And  then  some  day 
a  strange  thing  happens.  Something  comes 
along  and  sweeps  away  the  wealth.  Some  idol 
is  touched  and  it  withers.  Perhaps  the  strength 
is  laid  low ;  perhaps  sickness  befalls.     The  fur- 


JACOB'S  STRUGGin.  105 

nace  and  the  crucible  are  put  to  work.  And 
people  wonder  why  that  man's  life  is  in  such  a 
place  01  affliction.  But  God  does  not  wonder. 
God  knows  what  He  is  doing;  what  He  is  per- 
mitting. And  when  that  man,  prostrate  and 
broken,  is  brought  to  the  end  of  himself  in  help- 
lessness, you  will  see  a  new  thing.  Into  that 
man's  life  come  transformation,  power,  blessing, 
and  a  new  and  living  walk  with  God,  all  because 
God  has  broken  him  down  at  the  point  of  his 
self -life  that  was  holding  him  for  self  and  the 
w^orld.  God  has  to  rob  some  men  of  about  all 
they  have,  before  He  can  get  them  for  Himself. 
As  long  as  it  is  God  and  something,  we  cling  to 
the  something.  But  when  it  becomes  God  or 
nothing,  then  we  turn  to  God  because  there  is 
nothing  else  left.  There  are  some  lives  that  turn 
to  Him  simply  and  sweetly  in  fullness  of  devotion 
from  the  beginning.  There  are  other  lives  which 
God  has  to  deal  with  as  He  dealt  with  Jacob. 
Often,  what  we  will  not  yield  God  has  ^to  take; 
what  we  will  not  give  up  God  has  to  break  up. 
A  godly  woman  used  to  say:  "God  has  not  only 
pulled  me  up  by  the  roots,  but  He  seems  to  be 
shaking  the  dirt  oflF  the  roots."  "Take  me, 
break  me,  make  me,"  seems  to  be  the  prayer 
some  of  us  have  to  pray,  before  God  has  His  per- 
fect wav  with  us. 


io6  UFB  TALKS. 

There  was  a  great  victory. 

It  mas  the  victory  of  love — the  love  that  will 
not  let  us.  go.     How  gladly  would  Jacob  have 
broken    away    from   that    mighty   grasp.      How 
quickly  would  he  have  fled  away  into  the  darkness 
and  the  night  if  he  could.     But  the  unseen  wres- 
tler  would   not   let   him   go   until   He   had   con- 
quered him — because  He   loved   him.     A  kind- 
hearted  surgeon  is  pressing  the  keen  knife  into 
the  cancer,  which  is  eating  out  our  life.    He  holds 
our  struggling  hand  with  steady  grasp.     He  will 
not  let  us  go,  however  much  we  are  suffering. 
We  look  up  into  his  face  and  cry  out,  **I  suffer; 
let  me  go."     But  He  says,  *'I  will  not  let  you  go 
until  I  have  my  way  of  blessing  with  you.    I  will 
not  let  you  go — because  I  love  you."     Another 
loving  hand  is  pressing  a  bitter  potion  to  our  lips. 
We  cry  again,  **I  do  not  like  it;  let  me  go."     A 
loving  voice  answers:  "A  deadly  poison  is  burn- 
ing in  your  veins.     This  is  the  antidote  for  it. 
I  will  not  let  you  go — because  I  love  you."    Even 
so  do  we  look  up  to  God  and  cry :  **Why  do  you 
keep  me  in  this  fiery  furnace!     Why  do  you  let 
these  heavy  burdens  oppress  me?    Why  do  you 
suffer  me  to  be  so  sorely  and  constantly  tested 
and  tried?    Why  do  you  not  relieve  me?    Why 
do  you  not  let  me  go  ?"  And  the  voice  comes  to  us 
''I  will  not  let  you  go  until  I  have  won  you  for 
Myself.    I  will  not  let  you  go  until  I  have  purged 
you  of  your  dross.     I  will  not  let  you  go  until 


JACOB'S  STRUCCin.  107 

I  have  humbled  and  crushed  to  the  earth  the  self- 
life,  which  is  the  deadliest  foe  to  My  life  and 
power  within  you.  I  will  not  let  you  go  because 
I  love  you,  and  am  seeking  to  win  you  from  that 
which  is  empty,  hollow,  and  unsatisfying,  to  that 
which  is  full,  and  rich,  and  blessed  in  Christ 
Jesus." 

*     *     *     * 
There  was  great  power  in  prayer. 

But  had  not  Jacob  prayed  all  night?  Not  he. 
He  had  striven  all  night ;  and  against  God.  But 
it  was  only  when  the  thigh-collapsing  touch  of 
God  came  that  Jacob  clung  and  prayed,  and  was 
victorious.  For  the  birth-place  of  prayer  is  help- 
lessness. Prayer  comes  to  its  own ;  enters  into 
its  lawful  heritage  of  mighty  power  only  with 
men  who  have  reached  the  end  of  themselves  and 
are  clinging  to  God.  Power  in  prayer  did  not 
come  to  Jacob  while  he  strove  in  his  own  strength, 
but  when  he  clung  in  his  own  helplessness.  What 
poor  humans  are  we,  that  God  must  needs  let  us 
be  driven  into  the  stress  of  necessity  and  help- 
lessness because  in  no  other  way  can  he  constrain 
us  to  betake  ourselves  to  prayer  to  Him!  Yet 
it  is  even  so.  Do  we  pray  when  the  wind  is 
a-beam.  the  skies  fair,  and  our  ship  running  free 
before  the  breeze?  Nay,  but  when  the  mast  is 
overboard,  the  rudder  gone,  and  the  ship  in  the 
trough — then  we  pray.  Do  we  pray  when  our 
loved  ones  are  in  Drn'^t^m'tv.  henlth.  and  streng^th? 


io8  LIPB  TALKS. 

Nay,  but  when  the  sober- faced  physician  shakes 
his  head,  and  says  he  has  done  all  he  can,  and 
death's  shadow  settles  down  over  the  chamber  of 
a  precious  one — then  we  pray.  Strength  is  self- 
reliant  and  thinks  it  needs  no  God.  But  weak- 
ness is  driven  to  God-reliance  and  there  learns 
the  secrets  of  the  prayer  life.  Helplessness  be- 
gets dependence — dependence  leads  to  prayer :  and 
prayer  brings  power.  Out  of  our  own  insuffi- 
ciency into  God's  sufficiency,  by  the  pathway  of 
prayer,  is  the  secret  of  power.  Wherefore  self- 
strength  may  be  worse  than  weakness.  For  the 
weak  man  learns  to  cling  and  pray.  But  the 
strong  one  stays  self-centred  and  misses  God. 


Faith, 

"Por  ye  arc  all  sons  of  Cod  tiiroucti  faith  in 
Christ  Jesus." — Cal.  3  :  26. 

The  Word  of  God  docs  nut  much  concern 
itself  with  definitions  of  faith.  But  it  is  often 
iUustrating  and  picturing  faith.  And  none  of  its 
pictures  is  simpler  or  more  beautifully  clear  than 
that  one  in  Pleb.  12:2. — "Looking  unto  Jesus." 
^  -^  -^  -jp. 
Faith  is  looking  unto  jesus. 

Exactly  what  is  it  to  look  unto  Jesus  with  the 
faith  that  saves  the  soul?  Let  us  illustrate.  You 
owe  a  thousand  dollars.  You  give  your  creditor 
a  note  for  it.  That  nole  is  endorsed  by  a  rich 
friend.  Suppose  it  to  be  in  the  days  when  im- 
prisonment for  debt  is  in  force.  By  and  by  you 
become  bankrupt.  Not  one  dollar  do  you  have 
to  meet  your  obligation.  As  the  day  approaches 
upon  which  your  note  falls  due  your  creditor  be- 
gins to  harass  you.  He  exacts  every  dollar.  He 
threatens  you  with  im])risonment  if  you  fail  to 
pay.  Straightway  your  heart  is  filled  with  anx- 
ious care.  You  cannot  possibly  pay  the  debt.  As 
the  hour  draws  near  your  distrcs<?  of  soul  grows 
almost  unbearable  as  you  think  of  the  suffering 
of  your  loved  ones  whom  you  have  unwittingly 


no  LIFE  TALKS. 

involved  in  your  fate.  But  now  you  remember 
that  you  have  a  kind  friend  as  endorser  on  your 
note.  You  go  to  him  in  your  crisis.  At  once  he 
says — "My  friend,  do  not  worry  one  moment 
longer,  I  am  your  endorser  on  this  note.  I  have 
ample  assets  to  meet  it.  Just  look  to  me  to  pay 
it." 

At  once  your  whole  attitude  changes.  You 
leave  off  worr3dng.  Peace  fills  your  heart.  An- 
other man  has  taken  the  whole  burden.  And 
thus  it  is  lifted  entirely  from  you.  You  have 
ceased  to  try.  You  simply  trust.  That  is,  you 
are  looking  to  another,  and  to  him  alone  to  pay 
your  debt.  Hold  before  your  mind  this  thought 
of  a  man  looking  to  his  endorser  to  pay  his  note.- 
Hold  it  there  not  for  one  moment,  but  for  several. 
Hold  it  until  you  have  a  sharp,  clear  picture  of 
what  your  attitude  of  mind  would  be  if  you  were 
thus  depending  upon  a  friend  to  pay  your  note. 
Do  you  grasp  it  clearly?  Can  you  think  it 
through?  Can  you  put  yourself  exactly  in  that 
place?  Have  you  held  it  there  now  until  there 
is  no  blur  nor  fog  to  the  mental  picture  of  just 
hozi'  you  would  look  to  an  endorser  to  pay  your 
note?    Well,  that  is  faith. 

jic  ^  ^  ^ 

Faith  is  dkpe^nding. 

Surely.  Tha^  is  exactly  what  looking  to  an- 
other means.    That  is  precisely  what  the  maker 


FAITH.  in 

of  the  note  does  toward  his  endorser.  It  is 
relying  upon  another.  It  is  counting  ujxjn  him. 
It  is  throwing  your  weight  upon  him,  and  his 
word.  It  is  depending  upon  him  to  do  the  very 
thing  he  has  promised.  You  wish  to  send  your 
little  child  down  street  in  the  city.  A  friend 
offers  to  take  her  in  charge.  You  give  her  into 
his  keeping,  saying,  ''I  look  to  you  to  take  care 
of  my  child."  You  simply  mean  that  you  de- 
pend upon  him  to  do  it.  You  break  a  limb  by 
accident.  Your  friend  the  surgeon  comes  to  set 
it.  You  say,  ''Doctor,  I  look  to  you  to  set  that 
limb  aright.''  You  are  about  to  take  a  journey. 
You  take  your  seat  in  the  train.  You  say  to  the 
conductor,  "Friend,  I  look  to  you  to  bring  me  to 
my  destination.'  In  all  these  cases  where  you 
are  looking  to  others  you  mean  that  you  are 
depending  upon  them.  You  are  counting  upon 
them  to  do  the  thing  in  question,  and  are  making 
no  effort  whatever  to  do  it  yourself.  This  is  ex- 
actly what  looking  to  Jesus  for  salvation  is. 
He  is  a  specialist  in  saving  men.  That  is  His 
business  and  His  alone.  "He  shall  save  his  people 
from  their  sins."  Therefore  you  are  to  look 
to  Him,  count  upon  Him,  depoid  upon  Him  to 
save  your  soul  just  as  simply,  helplessly,  and  ab- 
solutely as  you,  a  bankrupt  debtor,  would  de- 
pend- upon  your  rich  endorser  to  pay  your  note. 
And  when  a  man  passes  from  this  looking  at 
Jesus  as  a  historical  personage,  to  this  dependent 
looking  to  Jesus  to  save  his  soul,  he  passes  from 


112  LIFE  TALKS. 

the  faith  of  the  devils  who  beheve  and  tremble,  to 
the  faith  of  God's  sons  who  believe  and  are  saved. 

^  ^  3fC  !fC 

Faith  is  LOOKING  away  from,  everything  else 
unto  Jesus. 
The  word  "looking  unto"  has  a  meaning  which 
is  not  expressed  in  our  own  version  of  the  Bible. 
It  means  not  only  looking  unto  but  ''looking 
away."  ''O^^-looking  unto  Jesus,"  is  the  ren- 
dering in  Luther's  translation.  The  man  who  is 
looking  unto  one  thing  or  person,  must  look 
away  from  everything  else.  When  you  trust  an- 
other to  guide  you  on  a  dark  night  you  look 
azvay  from  your  own  knowledge  of  the  way  unto 
his.  When  you  put  yourself  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  a  great  teacher  3^ou  look  away  from  your 
own  ignorance  uhto  his  wisdom.  When  in  weak- 
ness you  lean  upon  the  strong  arm  of  a  friend 
you  look  away  from  your  own  helplessness  unto 
his  strength.  So  when  you  look  to  Jesus  for 
salvation  you  must  needs  look  to  Him  alone. 
You  look  away  from  your  own  merits,  away 
from  your  own  efforts  and  strugglings,  away 
from  your  own  self-righteousness — unto  Jesus. 
Especially  is  it  true  that : — 

Faith  is  looking  azvay  from  your  own  works — 
unto  ji^sus. 
It  is  Jesus  who  saves.     And  faith  is  looking 
nnto  Him  for  salvation.     Therefore  we  do  need 


FAITH.  113 

to  steadily  look  away  from  our  own  works — 
unto  Jesus.  Nothing  in  the  Word  of  God  is 
clearer  than  this.  *'We  reckon  therefore  that  a 
man  is  justified  by  faith,  apart  from  the  works 
of  the  law."  (Rom.  3:28,  R.  V.)  "But  to 
him  that  zcorketh  not,  but  bclieveth  on  him  that 
justifieth  the  ungodly,  his  faith  is  counted  for 
righteousness."  (Rom.  4:5.)  "The  blessedness 
of  the  man  unto  whom  God  reckoneth  righteous- 
ness apart  from  zvorks."     (Rom.  4:6,  R.  V.) 

And  why  does  God  lay  such  stress  upon  our 
looking  away  from  works  unto  Jesus  in  order 
to  be  saved?  Simply  because  the  state  of  the 
lost  soul  is  such  that  good  works  utterly  fall  short 
of  meeting  that  soul's  supreme  need.  For  con- 
sider a  moment  these  two  great  facts  concerning 
the  unsaved  soul. 

The  unsaved  man  has  a  sin-stained  past. 
The  unsaved  man  is  condemned  to  death. 
How  wholly  insufficient  are  good  works  to 
meet  this  dual  need  of  the  soul.  Will  a  good 
deed  wash  away  guilt?  Can  acts  of  charity 
cleanse  the  blood-stained  past?  Can  works  of 
mercy  purge  a  conscience  crimsoned  with  sin? 
Can  anything  a  man  may  do  or  be  atone  for  sin? 
Nay,  "without  shedding  of  blood  there  is  no 
remission  of  sins."  Jesus  is  our  only  sin  bear- 
er. Jesus  alone  is  the  purger  of  the  soul  from 
guilt.  We  must  look  away  from  works  unto 
Him  alone.  And  so  too  of  the  sentence  of  death 
upon  everv  lost  soul  because  of  sin.     "The  soul 


114  UPB  TALKS. 

that  sinneth  it  shall  die."  Can  any  good  deed 
lift  a  soul  out  from  under  the  awful  shadow  of 
its  sentence  of  death?  Though  we  give  our 
bodies  to  be  burned,  will  that  do  it?  Though 
we  bestow  all  our  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  will 
that  do  it?  Will  a  genial  disposition,  or  a  kind 
heart,  or  a  loving  ministry  to  the  suffering  and 
needy,  will  these  do  it?  Nay.  A  lofty  purpose, 
a  moral  life,  a  kind  heart,  can  never  lift  that 
condemnation  from  the  guilty  soul.  But  Jesus 
can  lift  it.  For  He  Himself  has  suffered  the 
death  sentence.  He  has  suffered  it  in  our  place. 
And  he  who  believeth  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
"shall  not  come  into  condemnation  but  is  passed 
from  death  unto  Hfe."   (Jno.  5:24.)     Again: — 

*     *     *     * 

Faith  is  looking  away  from  your  own  ^aith — 

unto  Jesus. 

Some  people  try  to  have  faith  in  their  own 
faith,  instead  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  They 
keep  looking  for  a  subjective  condition.  They 
ought  to  be  looking  to  an  objective  Christ.  True 
faith  pays  no  attention  whatever  to  itself.  It 
centers  all  its  gaze  upon  Christ.  For  faith  is  not 
our  savior.  Faith  is  simply  an  attitude  of  the 
soul,  through  which  Jesus  saves.  When  Satan 
cannot  beguile  us  in  any  other  way  he  gets  us 
to  scrutinizing  our  faith,  instead  of  looking  unto 
Christ.  That  man  has  the  strongest  heart  who 
is  the  least  conscious  of  its  existence.    And  that 


FAITH.  IIS 

faith  is  the  strongest  which  pays  no  attention  to 
itself.  You  may  weaken  the  heart  by  centering 
your  anxious  attention  upon  it.  So  nothing  will 
quicker  weaken  faith  than  the  constant  endeavor 
to  discover  it.  It  is  like  the  child's  digging  up  of 
seed  to  see  if  it  is  growing.  It  is  a  curiosity 
which  brings  disaster  to  the  seed.  It  is  not  a 
man's  faith,  but  his  faith  in  Christ  which  saves 
him.  To  be  looking  unto  Christ  is  faith.  To  be 
looking  unto  anything  else,  even  unto  faith,  is  a 
trouble  to  the  soul. 

And  is  not  this  the  deep  and  real  significance 
of  our  Lord's  comparison  of  faith  with  the  mus- 
tard seed?  When  He  tells  us  of  the  power  that 
would  come  to  us  if  we  "have  faith  as  a  grain  of 
mustard  seed,"  what  does  he  mean?  Surely  not 
that  we  are  to  have  only  a  little  faith.  For  He 
always  rebukes  "little  faith."  But  rather  He 
is  saying  this :  "Hold  or  regard  your  faith  as 
you  regard,  and  look  upon  the  grain  of  mustard 
seed."  And  how  is  that?  Why  does  Christ 
choose  so  trifling  a  symbol  of  faith  as  the  mus- 
tard seed?  Because  He  is  contrasting  faith  and 
God.  The  emphasis  of  His  teaching  here  is  not 
on  the  "have  faith."  but  on  "have  faith  in  God/' 
lie  is  not  turning  our  eyes  toward  faith.  He  is 
turning  our  faith  toward  God.  And  so  nothing 
but  the  tiniest  and  most  insignificant  of  seeds 
could  symbolize  the  utter  littleness,  yea  nothing- 
ness of  faith,  as  compared  with  the  omnipotent 
God   who   works   through   our    faith.      But   how 


ii6  LIFE  TALKS. 

else  is  faith  like  the  mustard  seed?  Plainly  in 
this.  That  each,  however  insignificant  in  itself, 
is  the  channel  of  life  through  which  flows  the 
life  of  God.  The  wonder  of  faith,  and  the  won- 
der of  the  mustard  seed  is  the  same.  It  is  that 
though  nothing  in  themselves  God  can,  and  does, 
work  through  them. 

Therefore  do  not  worry  about  your  faith.  Do 
not  always  be  scanning  it.  Look  away  from  it 
altogether — unto  Jesus.  For  faith  alone  is 
naught.  It  is  only  faith  in  Jesus  that  counts. 
Take  care  that  you  are  depending  upon  Jesus  to 
save.    And  faith  will  take  care  of  itself. 

*     *     *     * 

Paith  is  not  clinging — it  is  letting  Go. 

Somewhere  we  have  read  a  story  like  this.  A 
traveler  upon  a  lonely  road  was  set  upon  by 
bandits  and  robbed  him  of  his  all.  They  then 
led  him  into  the  depths  of  the  forest.  There,  in 
the  darkness,  they  tied  a  rope  to  the  limb  of  a 
great  tree,  and  bade  him  catch  hold  of  the  end 
of  it.  Swinging  him  out  into  the  blackness  of 
surrounding  space,  they  told  him  he  was  hanging 
over  the  brink  of  a  giddy  precipice.  The  mo- 
ment he  let  go  he  would  be  dashed  to  pieces  on 
the  rocks  below.  And  then  they  left  him.  His 
soul  was  filled  with  horror  at  the  awful  doom 
impending.  He  clutched  despairingly  the  end  of 
the  swaying  rope.  But  each  dreadful  moment 
only   made    his    fate   more    sure.     His    strength 


FAITH.  117 

steadily  failed.  At  last  he  could  hold  on  no 
longer.  The  end  had  come.  His  clenched  fingers 
relaxed  their  convulsive  grip.  He  fell — six  inches 
— to  the  solid  earth  at  his  feet!  It  was  only  a 
ruse  of  the  robbers  to  gain  time  in  escaping.  And 
when  he  let  go  it  was  not  to  death,  but  to  the 
safety  which  had  been  waiting  him  through  all  his 
time  of  terror. 

Friend,  clutching  will  not  save  you.  It  is  only 
Satan's  trick  to  keep  you  from  beiiig  saved.  And 
all  the  while  is  your  heart  not  full  of  fear?  Let 
go!  That  is  God's  plan  to  save  you.  'And 
will  I  not  fall  to  death  ?"  you  say.  Nay.  Under- 
neath is — Jesus!  He  is  the  Rock  of  your  salva- 
tion. And  when  in  sheer  helplessness  you  let 
go,  and  fall  upon  Him  fear  goes,  and  death  goes, 
and  safety  comes  forever.  For  He^not  your 
clinging,  but — He  shall  save  His  people  from 
their  sins." 

Faith  is  not  trying — it  is  ceasing. 

A  drowning  boy  was  struggling  in  the  water. 
On  shore  stood  his  mother  in  an  agony  of  fright 
and  grief.  By  her  side  stood  a  strong  man 
seemingly  indifferent  to  the  boy's  fate.  Again 
and  again  did  the  suffering  mother  appeal  to  him 
to  save  her  boy.  But  he  made  no  move.  By  and 
by  the  desperate  struggles  of  the  boy  began  to 
abate.  He  was  losing  strength.  Presently  he 
arose  to  the  surface,  weak  and  helpless.    At  once 


ii8  LIFE  TALKS. 

the  strong  man  leaped  into  the  stream  and 
brought  the  boy  in  safety  to  the  shore.  "Why 
did  you  not  save  my  boy  sooner?"  cried  the  now 
grateful  mother.  "Madam,  I  could  not  save  your 
boy  so  long  as  he  struggled.  He  would  have 
dragged  us  both  to  certain  death.  But  when  he 
grew  weak,  and  ceased  to  struggle,  then  it  was 
easy  to  save  him." 

To  struggle  to  save  ourselves  is  simply  to 
hinder  Christ  from  saving  us.  To  come  to  the 
place  of  faith  we  must  pass  from  the  place  of 
effort  to  the  place  of  accepted  helplessness.  Our 
very  efforts  to  save  ourselves  turn  us  aside  from 
that  attitude  of  helpless  dependence  upon  Christ 
which  is  the  one  attitude  we  need  to  take  in  order 
that  He  may  save  us.  It  is  only  when  we  "cease 
from  our  own  works"  and  depend  thus  helplessly 
upon  Him  that  we  realize  how  perfectly  able  He 
is  to  save  without  any  aid  from  us. 

^  'K  't*  ^ 

Faith  is  not  doing — it  is  resting. 

When  work  is  ended  then  comes  rest.  So  is 
it  with  the  work  of  redemption.  Jesus  has  fin- 
ished that  work.  He  has  borne  our  sins.  He 
has  died  in  our  place.  Therefore  on  Calvary  He 
cried  out,  "It  is  finished."  And  it  is  ours  now 
to  rest,  for  the  work  is  done.  "Rest  in  the 
Lord,"  is  the  word  for  us.  But  what  does  a  man 
do  when  he  rests?     He  does  not  do  anything. 


FATTTT.  119 

He  quits  doing.  He  throws  his  weary  body  on  a 
chair,  a  couch,  a  bed,  and  lets  that  hold  him.  He 
ceases  all  trying  to  hold  himself.  And  so  what  do 
you  do  when  you  rest  in  Christ  for  salvation? 
You  do  not  do  anything.  You  throw  yourself, 
your  weight,  on  Christ  and  let  Him  do.  You 
simply — rest.  For  while  you  are  trying  you  are  not 
resting.  And  when  you  begin  to  rest,  you  cease  try- 
ing. Wherefore  "we  which  have  believed  do  enter 
into  rest."  And  the  man  who  believes  in  Christ 
does  indeed  rest  in  Him  for  the  salvation  of  his 
soul. 

*     *     *     * 
Faith  is  not  feeling — it  is  taking  God's  zuord. 

In  a  gospel  meeting  a  penitent  woman  was 
seeking  salvation.  The  evangelist  quoted  to  her 
anxious  soul  those  precious  words  of  Isaiah  53: 
6,  "The  Lord  hath  laid  on  Him  (Christ)  the 
iniquity  of  us  all/'  He  showed  her  that  though 
she  was  a  sinner  and  had  gone  astray  like  a  lost 
sheep,  yet  God's  word  clearly  stated  that  all  her 
sins  had  been  laid  upon  Jesus  Christ.  ''The  Lord" 
had  done  this  apart  from  any  feeling  or  emotion 
of  hers.  All  she  need  do  was  to  take  God's  word 
and  depend  upon  Christ  for  this  remission  of  sin. 
She  seemingly  did  so,  and  went  home  rejoicing. 
The  next  morning  she  came  downstairs  with  tears 
in  her  eyes.  The  old  burden  of  anxiety  for  sins 
had  come  back.    Her  little  boy,  who  had  been  with 


120  LIFE  TALKS. 

her  in  the  meeting  the  night  before,  noticed  her 
grief.  "Mamma,  what  is  troubHng  you?"  "Oh, 
last  night  I  felt  I  was  saved.  But  this  morning  it 
all  seems  Hke  a  dream.  I  fear  I  am  deceived." 
"Mamma,"  said  the  little  lad,  "get  your  Bible  and 
turn  to  Isaiah  53 : 6."  And  she  did  so,  and  read 
"The  Lord  hath  laid  on  Him  the  iniquity  of  us 
all."  "Mamma,  is  the  verse  still  there?"  "Yes, 
my  son."  "Then  your  sins  are  still  on  Jesus," 
said  the  wise  lad.  The  mother  saw  the  truth. 
She  took  God's  word,  without  regard  to  her  feel- 
ings.   And  then  God's  peace  came  to  stay. 

Friend,  your  salvation  rests  not  upon  your 
changeable  feelings,  but  upon  God's  unchangeable 
fact.  The  fact  of  God  is  that  Christ  has  borne 
your  sins,  and  has  died  in  your  place.  No  feeling 
of  yours,  whether  of  joy  or  grief,  exultation  or 
despondency,  peace  or  distress,  can  possibly  affect 
that  great  fact.  Therefore  let  not  one  fragment 
of  your  faith  hinge  upon  your  own  moods,  or 
emotions.  But  let  it  rest  implicitly  in  God's  word. 
For  in  that  it  will  find  perfect  peace.  And  it  will 
find  it  in  that  alone. 


.  .The  day  you  turn  your  face  from  sin  to  God: 
the  day  you  look  away  from  your  own  works, 
your  own  feelings,  even  your  own  faith — unto 
Jesus'  the  day  you  cease  clinging,  struggling  and 
trying:  the  day  you  see  that  faith  is  simply  de- 
pending upon  Jesus  as  a  bankrupt  debtor  depends 


FAITH. 


121 


Upon  his  endorser-  the  day  you  begin  to  so  depend 
upon  and  confess  Christ  as  your  Savior'  that  day 
God  zvill  save  your  soul,  and  through  that  self- 
same simple  faith  will  make  you — a  son  of  god. 


"The  Three-fold  Secret,"  a  companion  volume  by  the 
same  author,  sent  to  any  address  on  application,  upon 
the  same  condition  as  "Life  Talks." 


Leaflets  by  the  Same  JIutbott 

"A  Comforting  Truth'' 

"Beueving  Is  Seeing" 

"Faith" 

"Give  God  a  Chance" 

"Practice  of  Prayer'" 

"Prayer" 

"Prayer  and  Heaung" 

"Safety" 

"Surrender" 

"The  God-Pi,anned  Liee'' 

"The  Spirit-Fii.i,ed  Life" 

"The  YieivDEd  Life" 


Ipass  lit  Hlona 


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\1 


Theological  Seminary-Speer  Librar; 


1    1012  01004  5781 


